Chronicles of Halo (After the War) : Part 3 Revenge of Thunder
by gabriel.soderholm.16
Summary: The third book of my Halo Interpretation - continues the battle of Storm, the Gaurdians and the UNSC soldiers/this time on the human ONI colony of 'Genesis II'. The Thunder is searching for the 'Hidden Path', while UNSC defend New Hemisphere over the True End game of Halo READ OTHER BOOKS FIRST - Two other books available
1. Chapter 1

Happiness came in families.  
Markus finally realised this just as it was taken away from him.  
He was a young suburban boy of 11, he was part of a well-functioning and developing family, one of the few that hadn't split up and gone different ways, and now he was especially fortunate as it was his birthday and he was about to go inside to celebrate.

Celebrating his birthday was one of the few things that Markus did, that could remove the fear from all of their hearts. The fear of invasion, the fear of destruction and the fear of death was in all of them, ever since public news of the Storm Covenant had displayed itself; the small human colony of 'New Hemisphere' lived in fear, as the entire planet of Genesis II knew they lacked any sufficient resources to stop the invading alien horde.

Markus smiled as he walked out of his apartment flat, he loved watching the streets down below and guessing how far it was down there. He would often spend evenings watching the cars and shuttles zoom by, such a high sky scraper such as this building had a lot of air traffic traveling under.  
He lived at the city New Hemisphere on the new colony of Genesis II, one of the most popular holiday destinations according to recent news; another significant factor of this new city included it being an ONI controlled settlement.

The system of Genesis II was a beautiful green planet was covered in vegetation, mountainous ranges and large channels of rivers and oceans. The city of New Hemisphere had been expanding quickly for the last four years, creating a massive location to be pushed aside by the forces of Storm.  
Markus looked upwards at the large skyscrapers, and the blue sky. How we longed to fly on day with the massive Shuttles in space, one day that might come true his father would say. The massive UNSC shuttles could be spotted every now and then but not now.  
Something shiny was in the sky however; it looked different from the casual UNSC ships.

Markus squinted his eyes at the strange purple object in the sky, and opened his mouth in absolute dread; the flier was approaching quickly and descending down to his own sky scraper.  
The covenant banshee shot through the sky, ripping through the atmosphere at an alarming speed, its purple wings cutting the air like a hot knife through butter.  
The flier screamed downwards and flung past the skyscraper, Markus hurried to turned his head and watch its descent, almost starting to scream as the banshee opened fire at the pedestrians down below. Its blue plasma cutting men in half as it pulverised the floor and burned everything in its path, women were screaming and a loud beacon started emanating warning noises to the entire city. The sound of explosions, roars and screams filled the entire atmosphere like a rabid and crazy void of the dammed.  
Markus swung his head upwards as his mother started screaming in fear and shouting filled his apartment. His father yelled for him to come back into the house, to get to safety; but after looking up at the sky of a once beautiful morning, he knew that wasn't to be.  
A massive purple Assault Carrier was floating in the air, its appearance causing dread in the city of New Hemisphere, more screams and prominent warning sirens emanated from the puny defence systems of the city; human turret fire revealed missiles issuing up and smashing into the blue barrier of the Carrier; and then it responded in kind.

Blue Plasma bolts the size of houses rained down on the city in an array of hundreds, every shot hitting the streets and skyscrapers like thunder on pebbles. Skyscrapers exploded in fumes of blue and black, streets were torn up by the roots and the spectacular city of New Hemisphere started being consumed by fire, ash and plasma. As the gunfire continued to splatter upon the city, Markus could see thousands of purple shuttles dropped from the gigantic Assault Carrier, quickly descending down and preparing to unleash hell on the planet of Genesis II.

Banshees and phantoms dropped alike and descended upon the city, firing plasma down and dropping large vehicles into the suburbs. Markus caught a sight of a phantom dropping down in his street, large brown creatures landing on the roads and cracking the floor with their weight; they snarled at all the fleeing humans and opened fire. Cutting down innocent men and women as they stood, showing no remorse and leaving no man alive.

Markus stood defiant towards the Assault Carrier as her mother screamed out his name, then finally, as if he knew it was going to happen, the covenant storm ship above aimed one of its many turrets towards the sky scrapers location.

Fiery plasma spewed out of the warm gun and swept in an arc straight towards Markus, it descended down like a meteor from heaven and impacted heavily with the side of the building underneath the little boy's apartment.

The explosion rocked the entire building with a collection of fire, plasma and smoke, letting Markus fall backwards and land roughly on his back. As he tried to get back up again, all he could hear was the creak and groan of the entire skyscraper buckling as plasma cut straight through it, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the building and sparking it with lightning, ash and plasma. Finally the groaning stopped as the building started leaning to the right and finally, it cracked under pressure and started to fall into the solemn ground.  
And all Markus could see was darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

A plumage of red fire skirted the large cracks and solemn burn marks on top of the metal wings of the UNSC Battle Cruiser 'Red Dusk', it had been pummelled senselessly by two covenant ships but luckily, had managed to survive the worst of its predicament. Due to the arrival of the UNSC fleet, the crew members of this worn and once majestic ship felt as if they could sleep tonight. Genesis II lay beneath the once proud ship, two Covenant Assault Carrier's had appeared over it quickly via slip-space jump; committing god knew what to the civilians down there.  
"Lieutenant Drafter" An operator spoke to the ONI specialist, trying to get her input on the current situation. Not long ago, the massive nuclear explosion of the Lunar turret 'Shield had shocked them all; although her prized Spartan IV had survived, the loss of the base meant that Genesis II was completely unprotected.

Drafter tapped the side of her head franticly before standing up, "Head a course to the UNSC Fist of Judgement, I want reparations on this ship as soon as possible." She also planned to speak to the leading commander of the large ship; hoping she could bend the Admiral of the fleet to her whims and the needs of ONI.  
"Affirmative ma'am, what do you want to do about the ongoing assault on Genesis II; they won't last long down their without support."

The Lieutenant breathed in slowly before replying, "Our current situation needs to be dealt with first, the threat of Thunder is too high for us to squander our support; Genesis II can wait."  
**Meanwhile  
**  
"The hospitality of these assigned forces seems to be an anomaly, not once in my data banks is the term 'covenant' ever mentioned, however they speak with the grace and weight of life long races, with the authority of the mighty forerunners themselves, or do I tread too far?" The dull hum slowly vibrated over the monitor's words, its golden light was shining brightly as it considered all these events; the beam reflecting of the purple walls along with the two large promethean knights that stood guard in front of the Recognisable Barrier of Testimony. They were on edge as they guarded their monitor, they knew something was different about 01 but were unclear what or how it affected the oracle. Ever since it had been transitioned inside the data pad of the covenant supreme carrier, it had been mumbling nonsense about the righteous path and the truth of the storm; it was almost as if it had been affected straight to the core.

The golden bulb continued to vibrate around the map room ominously, occasionally speaking up about how curious it was of the state of the current universe as well as the religious process and hierarchal supremacy of the covenant. Its voice started to become more and more strained as it commented on the 'Holy path', flickers of red light tampered with its regular monochromatic palate of gold and the regular hovering pattern was become disjointed and out of place.

All of this was watched by the nearby doorway and window, a massive black elite clad in ancient Arbiter armour stood at the hanger that led into the map room. It lowered its large fearsome head and peered inside to investigate the effects of placing a monitor inside the terminal and data pad unit of the covenant battle net.  
The Harbinger snorted finally in disgust and left the delusional monitor to its never-ending loop of questions that would no doubt lead to insanity, the Sangheili official stomped down the hanger and made his way to the lead cockpit of the Supreme Carrier "Infamous Fury" where no doubt, his lord and Hierarch would be waiting for him.  
As the black warrior entered the massive open cockpit of the ship he realised what was going on, all of the pilots and operators were preparing to charge and control the fleet in order to attack and demolish the opposing human force.

"Ahhh Harbinger, you finally come to see the fruit of your labours." The voice of the prophet called out to him, the San Shyuum himself was seated in his hovering throne at the head of the entire cockpit. A long spindly hand gestured the massive elite to come closer, it flickered to the seat on his left; indicating he was to sit, but as always the Harbinger preferred to stand.  
"Hierarch, I see you are gathering the Thunder to mobilise, there seems to be nothing to report with the oracle; its involvement with the Storm data pad seems to have down permanent damage" He spoke slowly, his tough mandibles separating sharply and revealing the purple tissue of his mouth and the perfectly formed white teeth, the large elite ironically had nothing against standing over the prophet; contrasting to all other storm forces who immediately kneeled while in the Hierarch's presence.

"The remaining human forces are to be crushed, as is the will of the gods." Storm continued, scraping the flakes of hair that was starting to grow on his cracked chin, "However our mutual friend, the Shipmaster of Reconciliation of Lies does have something to report."  
"Indeed, and who would he be." Harbinger snarled, not willing to play mind games with the prophet, or any games for that matter.  
"He says that he has captured a demon within his own midst, and he actually intends to present it to me as a token of his servitude," The Hierarch completed, satisfied with his vessel's progress.

The Harbinger continued to act interested, this wasn't very concerning for him, "The gods indeed must have blessed him; to capture a demon is no small feat." The black elite knew this was to be true, as he had slaughtered and caught Spartans before and they were feisty warriors, he still remembered the blue soldier he had left alive in order to create a challenge for himself; the soldier who he had removed an arm from.

"No doubt" The Hierarch responded critically, watching the black elite's eyes for any hint or betrayal of conscious; as if he knew what the Harbinger was truly thinking in his head, but unfortunately was not able to capture it, "You are dismissed, prepare the Thunder for complete annihilation over the meagre forces of mankind."

The elite nodded, turning around to leave the room and feeling slightly sorry for the human forces, for the first time in his life.


	3. Chapter 3

A groan escaped the tough lips of the pale soldier, he coughed once outloud and then attempted to stand up; the pain in his lower abdomen was rather excruciating but he seemed to be able to move his back to a better seating position. Another groan escaped him as he managed to open his heavy lidded eyes, the soldier looked around himself and almost smiled at the familiar sight of a medical wing; at least he hadn't been captured by the covenant. Lucifer managed to stand up painfully, successfully balancing his heavy frame on two legs; he looked down and saw the bandages that were patterned around his torso and legs, the aftermath of never-ending and brutal firefight he had to perform in defiance and defence of the lunar base 'Shield'.

The Spartan IV looked back and saw the familiar white cloth and bed sheet that he had been laying on, then twisting around again he saw his own reflection in the mirror. In comparison to everything that had happened, he seemed ok; although he had received many wounds during the battle, he was indeed very lucky to make it out of there alive.

"Feeling better I see?" A voice called out to him as he started to inspect his face, the speaker was hidden from him somewhere; probably in another room and watching him right now.  
Lucifer touched at the long scar that ran across his cheek down to his chin before replying, "Where am I exactly, I don't remember landing on Red Dusk."

The voice replied harshly, as if it didn't care if her really knew or not, "Your aboard the UNC Fist of Judgement Spartan, your pelican got picked up at least three hours ago and we took your squad into the medical labs."  
"Are they ok?" Lucifer asked quietly, running his finger down the scar that had hideously deformed his face since the events of High Peak and the large black elite had slashed him across the face and the visor.  
"All personal are accounted for Spartan, you should count yourself lucky; you suffered a greater fate then those still left at the ruins of Shield." It replied again, cutting of the communications and letting the soldier rest.

**Meanwhile**  
A gasp erupted out of the Spartan IV as he awoke abruptly, an immensely powerful light shining straight onto his face; he clenched his fingers as soon as he attempted to stand up but unfortunately was forced to lie down as he felt the thick barrier tightening around his chest. He coughed outloud and felt warm blood trickle down the side of his throat, he was hurt badly; and whatever situation he was in, he sure didn't like it. Gabriel cocked his head to the side quickly, trying to open his eyes and asses where he was; but the blinding light of the ceiling kept stabbing at him.

Finally the Spartan IV managed to open his eyes and stare at the floor; he was forced not to look upright by the overconsumption of light, but staring down told him more than enough information to reveal the situation he was in.

The purple ornate floorboards were simply the reminiscent representation of a covenant styled ship, which is where he had found himself. As the Spartan stared down at the floor he started to remember what had happened to him, the sabre jet that had smashed straight into the ship and the quest to detonate the ship's generators. Now that he thought about it, his vengeful retaliation had lacked basic logic; after he had detonated the generators he would have had barely any time to escape the rupturing vehicle. But the avengement hadn't even worked in the first place; he had been captured before he had even started.

Gabriel stood up slowly, looking over himself and realising his helmet and robotic prosthetic left arm had been removed; normally he would have realised this earlier but a lack of arm was something he was really used to by now.

"The fallen angel awakens…" A rough voice drawled from the corner of the room, a lack of lighting in the shady corner helped hide the speaker from Gabriel's view. He could tell from the voice that it was a Sangheili that was speaking, the familiar click and grunt was recognisable even in his state of delusion and weakness.

"To announce himself a Demon." The voice continued as the elite stepped out of the light, revealing his golden armour and massive Zealot headpiece that announced him as 'Mort'ang' the shipmaster of the Storm Corvette 'Reconciliation of Lies.'


	4. Chapter 4

"Give me status update Athena, what's our situation looking like."

A blue holographic image appeared on the large blue monitor screen and stared intently at the admiral of the Fist of Judgement, the small pixels had all formed together to create a 3D replica of a fully grown women in casual attire. This Artificial Intelligence peered straight across to the man in front of her as well as monitored over fifty different complex simulations and regulations over the entire UNSC shuttle. She was the Artificial Smart unit for this vessel, named after the Greek goddess of Athena, this particular AI was clever, strategic and completely implied with different tactics on star space warfare; this was something the Admiral required right now.

"Sir, Covenant battle cruisers on intercept course with our fleet, it seems they wish to bury the hatchet and come at us head on." She replied coolly, her head literally swimming in swirly blue hue's and lines.

Admiral 'Ace' Osborn stood at the cockpit of his massively primed and prepared UNSC Fist of Judgement, he evaluated his position evenly and then made a choice, "Release the mines into the space in front of us and start issuing the fleet back, as soon as those covenant bastards get within thirty clicks of those tickers I want them in flames." He spoke evenly, carefully analysing every ship and shuttle under his command, "Then fire mac rounds on any surviving covies with our fleet until they take the hint and retreat."  
"An excellent strategy if I do say so myself sir" Athena beamed at him.

Admiral Ace smiled and turned back to his communications monitor, activating a couple of panels on the screen and waiting for them to load before mumbling, "I learned from the best."  
Suddenly the screen was outfitted with three captains at station on their own UNSC ships, two of them were Frigates and the last was a Battle Cruiser, they immediately saluted and confirmed his presence as his face appeared on every one of their screens.

"Halberdier, Renaissance and Bravo – 04" He spoke evenly to the three selected captains, referring to them by the name of their ships, "Your objective is to clear away from the main fleet and proceed to extract and assist the civilians down below; watch each other's backs and make sure those damned covenant pay for what they've done!" He completed, slamming his fist down to emphasise the anger they had all been feeling over the invasion of Genesis II.  
"Yes sir" "Aye Admiral" "Affirmative", all replied back to him; letting him switch of the communications and prepare himself for the battle of his life.

"Sir, ONI Battle Cruiser 'Red Dusk' has just parked in our right hanger bay C and is requesting both reparations as well as an audience with you." Athena flickered back onto his screen, looking down and flicking of numbers on a holographic pad she had formed.  
"Grant it Athena, and give me status on Gold team – I need to know if they will work with a newcomer." Ace replied, tapping at more functions and getting the status lights on every ship under his command; over twenty frigates and battle cruisers lay at his disposal, all awaiting his move and request.

"Affirmative sir, message relayed and mines deployed; is there anything else you wouldn't mind me doing while I'm here?" The AI continued, starting to get irritated with the overwhelming amount of jobs she was forced to do.  
Ace continued to speak through her sarcasm, not recognising it, "Get me status on Lucifer and the ODST squad, I want to speak to them before ONI has a chance to grab them for their own vanity projects."

Athena sighed, "Sir you do believe that in the context of sarcasm…"  
"We don't have time for sarcasm Athena, were at war; now get me that status report pronto, more than just our lives depend on this running smoothly." The Admiral responded, waving his hand away and not caring for the AI's arguments. He walked over and activated the large window shutters that revealed the outside space system, he saw the three USNC ships leaving the fleet and heading straight down to the system of Genesis II; but most importantly he saw the Thunder advancing towards him, ready to fire and begin a war.

Ace smiled as they continued to travel towards him, oblivious to the trap they had set, "Ok command all ships to start travelling backwards, I want those covies to think we're on the run."

Athena confirmed him while adding, "UNSC spacecraft are not well designed to travel backwards sir, we'll be pretty close to the explosion when the covenant manage to hit the mines."  
The Admiral replied slowly, "Well then you better get yourself an order for sunglasses Athena."

Silence rocketed between all of the ships as they slowly travelled backwards, watching the covenant advance towards the mines that awaited them.  
Finally Athena spoke, "With all due respect, you need to work on your puns sir."


	5. Chapter 5

The black armour gleamed at him, through the golden visor of his own helmet he was able to look upon his own reflection; however flawed it really was, he could not tell anymore. Someone had fixed up his Mjonlir pieces when he had rested and been healed, leaving them brand new, shiny and completely operational.

Lucifer walked over to the pieces and started affixing them to his own armour mesh, letting the large metallic plates position themselves smartly around his body and finally start to generate the golden energy shield around himself. He placed the light bracers over his wrists and the heavy boots under his feet; letting the forceful black assemblages of titanium and carbon alloy metal to completely encase his body in an unrecognisable mesh of destruction and slaughter.  
The Spartan IV walked forward, grabbing the USNC magnum from the side table and quickly slotting it into his thigh magnetised holster, he tapped onto his radio coms as an unrecognised caller came in on his frequency.

"This is Spartan 701 'Lucifer', respond and go for secure." He spoke abruptly, barely moving his lips as he grabbed the large BR5 Battle Rifle from the stack of weaponry and placed it over his shoulder to hook onto the magnetised holster situated on his back.  
Athena's sharp and analytical voice broke through his com and replied, "Your feeling better I suppose, the Admiral would like to speak to you about the integration of your unit and ours."  
Lucifer nodded to himself, then realised the AI could recognise that and replied with, "Affirmative", he foraged the armoury for some UNSC grenades quickly before he added, "Do you have any news on Gabriel?"

That was the one thing that didn't match up for him, he hadn't heard anything about his former team-mate for over a day now; and in a current and ongoing battle such as this, that could mean the death of the blue Spartan IV.  
If Athena had been confused over who Lucifer was talking about, she didn't show it; as she foraged through every known catalogue of the 'Red Dusk's personal file' she realised "Gabriel" was the codename given to another Spartan on his original unit.  
"Any data or catalogued information on your friend isn't processed up to date Spartan." She managed to reply as she failed to find any current report's or debriefs for the elusive blue soldier.

Lucifer acknowledged her silently and switched of his communications, without important information or orders; he really didn't see the point with talking to the AI, talking to living humans was bad enough. He walked outside the armoury quickly and aimed to head directly towards the cockpit, he wanted orders and he wanted them now.

Suddenly a patrol of soldiers past him, led by two burly Spartan IV's clad in golden Mjonlir armour and carrying powerful weapons over their shoulders. Lucifer kept walking without intrusion but felt like stopping as he heard one of the super soldiers' shifting his weight and turning around before he snickered.

Lucifer continued to walk to the cockpit door when suddenly the Spartan IV closest to him, a golden brute with a red stripe patterned down his left shoulder pad and chest piece spoke roughly, "So you're the Spartan that ran away, guess it figures."

The Black soldier didn't make a move; instead he clenched his fists and simply stared at the large golden warrior in front of him, he knew how this was going to end, this particular Spartan was obviously a 'tough guy' and didn't like to be challenged by him.  
Finally the red patterned Spartan IV turned back after adding, "Just because you're being assigned to us, don't think we'll be carrying you all the way; we know that you're as loyal as any deserter."  
Lucifer shook his head quickly, simply counteracting the Spartan's words with a head movement, he didn't want this to end in violence but he disliked being insulted as well.  
Unfortunately, the golden Spartan noticed this and replied with the rash overstatement of an angered soldier, "What do you think happened to your squad mates? You abandoned them, we all read the file."

Lucifer didn't make a sound, didn't betray his movements an inch until he clenched every muscle in his body to launch at this directly rude Spartan IV and smash him to senses, only now did the black soldier realise how powerful the anger through him really was.

But a hand stopped him, an old weathered but powerful hand that rested lightly on his shoulder pad and seized his attention; not roughly but with a simple gentle nudge that somehow reinforced authority and power. At the sight of this new figure, the Golden Spartan IV nodded once to him and went on his way without another word or gesture.

Lucifer frowned as he turned around, letting the massive golden visor protect his emotions from leaving his helmet. A large but old man stood in front of him, the gold emblems on his chest revealing him as an admiral.  
The Black Spartan saluted him immediately, not wanting to get on the wrong foot with another member of this massive UNSC shuttle, 'Fist of Judgement'.

"At ease Spartan, I see you got distracted on your way to see me." Admiral 'Ace' Osborn spoke to him slowly, completely at ease and even pleased to see the new arrival; which was a new for Lucifer.

As the Black soldier nodded the Admiral continued to address him, "As you probably know by now, the loss of Shield has put Genesis II in a very awkward position, and the ONI lieutenant named Drafter has placed you under my orders for the time being in order to combat this threat."  
Lucifer nodded once, trying not to give away the gratitude he was feeling over not having to take orders and report in to his 'handler' Lieutenant Drafter.  
"I'm going to say it straight out, Spartans are rubbish in special warfare" the Admiral continued, chuckling to himself as he saw Lucifer nod in agreement, "I want your boots on the ground with Gold team, you take direct orders from 'North' and he reports in to me; understood?"

Lucifer nodded again, keen to meet the new members of gold team that hopefully didn't consist of people like the rude Spartan he had met before. As he turned away, he inquired silently about the super-soldier with red patterns with a simple gesture of his head.  
"Oh you've already met North? Good, he's your commanding officer from this day forth; I want you to join your squad and be prepped by the nearest pelican at 1200 hours." Ace commanded, turning around swiftly and walking back to the cockpit without another word.

Lucifer groaned loudly as he realised the rude soldier was actually his boss, and the leading Spartan of Gold team; this may even be harder than serving under Drafter, at least she didn't outright hate him.


	6. Chapter 6

"YOU!" Gabriel roared outloud in absolute fury, rushing forward, breaking through the pathetic plasma that tried to hold him down; smashing down on the set of plasma bars that separated him from the outside world. However as he touched the heated bars he realised they were starting to singe at his one usable hand, he withdrew sharply and stared intently at the elite in front of him, letting malice and pure hatred pour straight out of his eyes like the bullet from the gun and the venom of a blade.

Mort'ang didn't reply, for his part he just stared right back and remained seated, he was unarmed and wore lose fitting golden armour that lacked the shoulder pads and bracers. The Shipmaster stared intently at the unarmed Spartan warrior that he had captured, as if seeing him for the first time and then finally his mandibles parted and he spoke.

"Indeed, it seems your ill managed skull has managed to recognise me." Mort'ang spat at him, barely even watching or acting interested over the Spartan IV.  
"Come back to finish it off? What's the matter, Raphael and Michael weren't enough for you? You want more Spartan blood on your hands!" Gabriel growled at him, pacing around his imprisonment in frustration, his fist was scrunched together so tightly that a trickle of blood was starting to fall from the blue armoured glove.

The Shipmaster pondered what his prisoner had said, then immediately flickered his talons to the hovering table on his left; grabbing the ornate white handle that was situated there. Without a pause he activated the energy blade and let the huge crackling sparks of plasma light up the entire room, and then he spoke; his mandibles ripping forwards and backwards in new light.  
"Your death is inevitable Demon, however I see not the point of it being no use to me" Mort'ang continued to rumbled, swinging the blade back and forth in the dim room.  
"Why can't you just finish it now?" Gabriel spat at the elite, letting his saliva travel through the gaps of plasma and landing on the toe of the Sangheili royal zealot.

"Because there would be no point to it Demon, however with my current plan in motion; I will have what I truly deserve and you shall have what you seem to desire; the will to join your brothers in death" The Sangheili turned his back and started leaving the room, disgusted with the actions of the human.  
Gabriel roared and smashed his fist into the bed in complete fury and vengeance, "I'll put you in the ground for this you oath breaker, and you'll be joining your brothers in hell by my hand!"

Mort'ang turned around curiously before he flickered the energy sword of and finally rumbled deep in his throat, "I swore no oaths Demon, and to join my brothers in the endless reward of the great journey is something I look forward to…but not just yet."  
And then he left, turning his back on the rampaging Spartan and closing the doors behind him.

**Meanwhile**  
The familiar sound of a sharpened knife filled the atmosphere of the armoury, it was the golden Spartan IV with green patterning on his shoulder pad and chest piece who had decided to fine tune his most preferred set of weaponry. His codename had been designated as 'East' under his subservience of the UNSC controlled Spartan group named 'Gold Squad.'

He wasn't exactly quiet, but when it came to the proper arrangement and assortment of his weaponry; he required all of his weapons and equipment to be in peak condition. His light golden armour was primed perfectly and assorted well every day that East got the chance to look after his arms. Another Golden Spartan IV stood to his side, waiting impatiently for him to get moving; this soldier had a blue streak across the heavy shoulder pad and large chest piece but was blatantly female.

"You mind hurrying up East, I really would like some sleep before jump tomorrow." She spoke quickly, traces of an earth accent coming out of her tough visor's microphone.  
The green patterned soldier took his time to reply, slowly activating his Designated Marksmen Rifle by slamming down on the barrel and reloading it quickly, "Preparation is key West, if I'm not ready for tomorrow then who knows what will happen."

"You're not going to be ready because of the lack of sleep your bringing onto yourself, idiot" West spoke slowly, slowly lifting her leg up to support herself against the wall. She took of her helmet roughly and placed it on the floor; revealing her long un-military cut jet black hair and tough face.

A third golden Spartan entered the room abruptly, interrupting them from speaking further; it was the leading soldier with red patterning and a grim attitude; North.  
"Gold team," He addressed them roughly, "Get South and meet up at training room C as soon as you can." He looked intently at West, as if trying to get a specific reaction but she remained uninterested and simply nodded at him.  
East looked up in anger at the interruption, "What do we have to do now?" he dropped his magnum onto the table and sheathed his knife in something close to anger.  
The leading Golden Spartan walked out of the room as he replied smartly, "It's time to initiate our new recruit."


	7. Chapter 7

"Spartan, I thought it would be important for you to know that the UNSC Battle Cruiser "Red Dusk" has just started boarding the "Fist of Judgement" and is undergoing complete reparations."  
Lucifer stopped halfway through the corridor as he heard the news, the prospect of finding out what happened to his blue squad-mate as well as the rest of the battle cruiser was something he was very interested in; but his orders came first and right now he had to speak to the 'Gold' Spartan's that were about to lead the operations back on Genesis II in less than six hours.

The first thought that ran through the black Spartan IV's mind was that of nerves running high, but then the contentment and knowledge that he had to work alongside this 'Gold Squad' of Spartan IV's and therefore should get along with them. So finally he breathed in and entered the training bay C where he was told they were waiting for him; whatever madness they had in store, he was pretty sure he could handle them.

And so Lucifer walked inside the training bay and immediately recognised the familiar layout of the room, despite the obvious differences in size and strength; the two UNSC ships 'Red Dusk' and "Fist of Judgement" seemed very similar in a lot of ways. Four Spartans awaited him inside the room, three of them were generally coated in gold Mjonlir armour but the last carried despoiled white armour in complete contrast to the rest of them. North stood at the head of the formation of Spartans and recognised the newcomer immediately, he stood up and revealed the red patterns on his golden armour; representing him as the rude soldier from the hallway before.  
"Finally made it? Did you get lost on your way here?" He remarked smartly, glancing towards the female Spartan as if searching for approval over his pun.

Lucifer shook his head and observed the other Spartan's quickly, noticing how they mainly avoided eye contact and interaction with each other, and then the black soldier spoke, "So why did you drag me down here? We've got a combat drop in less than six hours and I wouldn't mind some shut eye."  
West punched at East's shoulder pad, as if she had brought up that argument before and still held onto it. The White Spartan IV 'South' remained uninterested in this entire conversation, standing still and slowly twisting his wrists around without an ulterior motive or some form of point.  
"You shouldn't speak to me without addressing me as sir; it might get you in trouble." North replied sharply, enjoying the power he had over this newcomer.

"I'll call you sir when you've earned it, and not out of fear of your overstated wrath." Lucifer rebutted without a seconds hesitation, he disliked this man and was already willing to leave them all and just go talk to Gabriel again.  
One of the other golden Spartans chuckled, this one was speckled with green patterning 'East' before he voiced up, "Are we going to get to the training floor or what? I want to get this over with before were sent into battle?"  
North smiled and twisted his arms together as he looked down at the black Spartan before delivering the punch line, "How about it? A throwdown to reveal your true potential to us; or can't you even face your new comrades after abandoning the older?"  
Lucifer stared him down harshly at the last comment and command, finally he grimly spoke, "Nothing to lose, but I sure do hope those comments of yours don't weigh you down in the arena tough guy."

**Meanwhile**  
The large assortment of covenant ships known as the "Thunder" all hovered evenly in front of the smaller force of human ships; all above the large vegetation dominated planet of 'Genesis II', indeed it was a strange and unfamiliar sight, especially in this apparent time of peace. A separate corvette known as the 'Reconciliation of Lies' served as the only movement in this spectacular stale mate, it's engines were firing blue light as it headed straight for the massive Supreme Carrier 'Infamous Fury' with an evil content. On board the small corvette, a transaction was taking place, the transferal of the prized prisoner and apparent gift named 'Gabriel' the demon of man.

The blue Spartan IV missed the usual strength of his robotic left arm, or any arm for that matter; as it was hard to defy the strength and numbers of his captors with the use of three limbs and a set of blue armour that barely seemed to work anymore.

A grunt and roar of two Sangheili guards had awoken the Spartan IV, they had been sent to transfer him from the corvette to the large Supreme Carrier. Gabriel had learned of Mort'ang' plan as soon as the use of a grunt guard had replaced the usual elite, which was a foolish mistake as the Unggoy had immediately revealed what the Shipmaster was really going to do to him.

Mort'ang planned to present Gabriel to the prophet of Storm as some form of present in order to gain more political power within the ranks of the Thunder. An admirable plan, however the fate of the Spartan IV would still be undecided, and knowing the tenacity and vile habit of the San Shyuum; his death would be sudden and promoted.

Gabriel's life span, seemed to be coming to an end.


	8. Chapter 8 : South

The four Spartans faced off against the one individual clad in black armour in the arena floor, fists raised and visors peering straight down at Lucifer. The Black Spartan IV balanced his weight back and forth as he switched from his right to left foot, he knew this wasn't a life or death situation but at the same time; he wouldn't let North get the best of him, even if the Gold Spartan team outnumbered him four to one.  
"Isn't this a bit excessive?" West asked slowly, backing away from the fight slowly, "There's three of you guys against one?"

North sighed and dropped his fists slowly, "Correction, there's four of us; and if he's a fragment of what he boasts himself to be then I doubt he'll have anything to worry about" a smug tone was affixed on his voice, showing his enjoyment in the situation.  
The Female Gold Spartan glanced at her opponent in a second, then shook her head at her commanding officer but stuck with his orders, saying, "Let's get this over with." She walked back up to her squad and watched the rest of the transaction play out with another word.

A nod of his head revealed North's pleasure as he continued with what he was doing, stepping forward he assessed the three gold Spartan's in front of him for the training ahead. South was the tank of his group so he could stay back and mow this troublemaker down, East was quicker and more evenly assessed so maybe he could be sent as some form of decoy…

Finally Lucifer stepped forward, letting his heavy black boot smash down and capture the opposing team's attention, and then he simply beckoned with the tips of his fingers for them to begin.  
North snorted at his opponent's impatience and punched at East's shoulder pad, letting the over-enthusiastic quick soldier rush forward and aim for a quick punch to flatten the opposing Spartan with a simple hit.

But Lucifer didn't let him, by simply shifting his weight to the side and avoiding the over confident warrior he managed to evade him, letting East slowly recover from the evasion and try again. Lucifer dodged the fist with a simple head twist, then rushed forward and spun around him to avoid another volley of attacks.

"Get him East!" The commanding Spartan yelled from a safe distance. Lucifer smiled as the enraged Spartan continued to rush at him, only to be dodged easily and evaded without a seconds thought. East rushed at him again, kicking his right leg ferociously but only managing to miss the evasive black Spartan IV. He roared outloud and attempted to cleave his right arm around but again, only managed to hit where the Spartan used to be.

And that's when Lucifer made his move, by simply waiting for the gold Spartan known as 'East' to rush at him for one final time, his footsteps wild as they rushed to his location, again the Black Spartan dodged his enemy letting him pass through. However this time he spun around with perfect concentration and balance, punching downwards hard and smashing down at the back of the head on the reckless and wild warrior.  
The satisfying thump of his enemy falling down to the floor revealed that East had been knocked unconscious with the clean and heavy hit to the back of his head. Lucifer smiled and regained his composure, trying not to act cocky about his situation.  
North stepped forward and cocked his fists together in a tough formation, West stepped up next to him and together they walked up to both sides of the elusive black Spartan IV. The two golden warriors' evaluated their enemy for one whole second before making a quick move.

They ran at him together, two symmetrical gold warriors that punched at Lucifer at the same time, however he managed to even evade both Spartans and quickly jumped to the side. The Black soldier then took the aggressive, striking forward with his legs and managing to smash into the male soldier 'north'.  
After spinning around and smashing his heel into both of the Spartans in a quick kick, Lucifer jumped up and completed a strict succession of quick punches and jabs that sent both of the opposing soldiers back onto the floor. North attempted to stand, groaning as he placed an arm over his chest; to only receive a quick jab to the neck that put him down to the ground with movement.  
West however decided to think better of moving, she stayed down and lay very still as the black soldier continued to walk forward to the last contestant.

This large burly white Spartan IV looked down at him from the base of the arena, he still hadn't made a move or a sound; but with the final queue he decided to step forward and smash his knuckles into each other with a resounding smash; he was "South".  
Lucifer watched his massive opponent slowly, trying to evaluate a weakness but not seeming to find any; despite the obvious brutal strength of his opponent, South appeared to be perfectly balanced on his large boots and wasn't even moving to attack.

So the black Spartan IV made his move, running forwards and jumping swiftly to his side so he could wrap around and smash the white soldier across the back of the head. But as he spun his right arm around with a brutal finality, he couldn't seem to locate his large opponent.  
As Lucifer spun around with his fist he realised that South had moved fast, extremely fast even for a Spartan; and he had done it silently as well. Too late, he had realised his mistake as the huge white soldier revealed himself behind his opponent and without pause or means to savour this moment, he simply punched his fist upwards and caught Lucifer right in the spine.

The Black Spartan screamed as his spine almost snapped upward, every neural system inside his body immediately went blank and he collapsed to the force without a millisecond of doubt or moment to protect himself. South, for his part, merely walked back up to the arena oversight bay and left the room to get ready for the objective mission that was to be played in five hours.  
Golden team had won, but in the eyes of both Lucifer and the massive white soldier; it was South that had proved to be unbeatable.


	9. Chapter 9

"Wake up Spartan" A voice called to him, letting his eyes open slightly and let in the bombardment of bright light into his life. He raised his right arm and grabbed onto the steel drafters in front of him, letting them lift him up from the cold floor. His back ached as he readjusted his posture and stood up completely, the members of Gold Squad were no were to be seen. Lucifer coughed loudly as he looked down at the soldier who had woken him, it was the ODST; Robert, who looked genuinely concerned over the massive black Spartan.

"What the hell happened to you?" Robert asked hurriedly as the large warrior affixed his back and twisted his wrists so they woke up.  
Lucifer grumbled, "Training exercise", he quickly checked the assessed time sheet on his HUD and confirmed that he had less than ten minutes to get to the pelican and start his objective, the battle between the UNSC fleet and Thunder was about to go underway.

"Really? It looks like you got beat the hell up." The concerned ODST led him to the closest doorway and started escorting him quickly to the destination hanger bay.  
Lucifer mumbled as he travelled quickly, he felt both furious and embarrassed over the events of the training room, although the fight was extremely unfair against him, leaving him in the training room without help or support was a low move.  
"Anyways, I've got to go Lucifer; I'm called to drop in soon" Robert nodded to him, "I guess its game time."

The Black Spartan IV stopped and turned around so he faced the underling hell-jumper before he spoke, "Thank you, for getting to me in time." Something caught in his throat as he finished the statement; it was if he had never said such things before.  
The ODST nodded again and left the black warrior to enter the hanger bay and face against his 'team-mates', the soldiers of Gold Squad were waiting for him.

Indeed they were waiting for him, three golden super-soldiers and one warrior on the side of the large UNSC vehicle; not a word was spoken until Lucifer grabbed his familiar BR5 Battle Rifle from the side of the room and cocked it roughly.

"I guess you finally made it." North snorted out of his nose, finding amusement in his victory and the newcomer's lateness.  
"No help from you." Was all that Lucifer replied, he was already sick of this squad and if he didn't have orders then he would have probably beaten them beyond the point of submission in the arena pit. The white Spartan was a different case however, he had never spoken or made an aggressive move against any of them unless he was called to do it; he was an anomaly.

East spoke up roughly from inside the vehicle, he was holding a USNC grenade launcher in his arms and an arrogant tone on his voice, "You mind hurrying this up? That city isn't going to save itself."  
The leading Spartan IV nodded and sat down inside the vehicle, he patted the seat next to him for West to sit down in but she decided to sit on her own; the tension between the entire group seemed to be escalating.

"We've got reports that the Covenant Assault Carrier target 'Alpha' has been shot down over the city of new hemisphere, however the last ship known as 'Razor' appears to be functional and still unloading hundreds of Jiralhanae into the city" The Admiral's voice issued over their radio headsets as soon as they all sat down, "Your current objectives issue through the general protection of the civilians, kill any storm you find and make sure we get our people to safety."

"Affirmative sir" North quickly added to the Admiral's monologue, then the golden Spartan reloaded the large DMR in his hand and spoke to the rest of the squad, "Alright ladies, follow strict procedures on this mission; I want all of you under my eye and following commands without complaints ok?"  
They mumbled their consent slowly, all except Lucifer who kept silent and South who merely nodded without a word to be said.

And then the Black Spartan spoke up, "How many of you have been in combat before?" the seriousness in his tone was tough enough to rip through granite. The golden squad looked at each other awkwardly without commenting before finally South nodded to him and confirmed himself as the only Spartan on gold team to have actually seen battle before.

"I thought so" Lucifer shook his head in disgust, he was surrounded by a team of trigger happy bullies that thought battle was a well thought out, scripted and heroic tale to be sung; but when they found out the brutal truth of warfare they would truly be in for a surprise.  
And it may even kill them.


	10. Chapter 10

"Lieutenant Drafter, reparations are complete and your battle cruiser is free to go; maintain complete altitude with the rest of the fleet and prepare your crew and ship for battle." The smart AI voice ran through the entire com system of the 'Red Dusk'.  
The ONI specialist sighed outloud at the voice of Athena, she despised Artificial Intelligences of all types and had refused to allow one on her own shuttle. The sound of 'Athena's commands over her own crew was something she had not looked forward to when it came to her role in the UNSC fleet against the unstoppable force of 'Thunder.'

"Commands Lieutenant?" An operator requested her input as the entire space shuttle moved out of the docking bay of the Fist of Judgement and entered the dark inky depth of space. Drafter almost swore at the turn of events, she had lost her two remaining Spartans to both the UNSC and entrapment by the covenant forces. Most of her marines and ODST's had been sent down to the bombardment of Genesis II, and now she was forced to fight alongside the losing side of this stand-off.

Drafter bit her lip at the prospect of commanding the underlings to simply turn around and survive to fight another day, but the negative attributes of such an act would weigh heavily on her career; so finally she gave the order, "Get us into position at the side of Fist of Judgement, prepare auxiliary generators to warm up the excess weaponry and barrier shields to repel whatever comes at us."

The Red Dusk Battle Cruiser fired its primary engine's to throttle it forward into position with the smaller UNSC frigate's, all of the shuttles formed a line in front of the massive shuttle 'Fist of Judgement.'

Not a round or sound was fired between the grey metallic shuttles as they peered down through the inky blankness of space right into the face of the opposing covenant Storm shuttles, corvette's and assault carrier's. The Storm fleet heavily outnumbered the human force; their corvettes were easily as large as a USNC Battle Cruiser, and the leading flagship 'The Infamous Fury' was twice the size of the leading 'Fist of Judgement'.

Unbeknownst to the Thunder forces, an assortment of small issued havoc mines were hovering randomly in the space between both factions; their primes were set on proximity interference and if they were used correctly then the storm shuttles would experience many casualties before they could unleash a shot.  
"All stations, prepare for full auto fire – do not move positions or change course until the covenant have made their move." The AI spoke again, retaining all command over the crew members of the different shuttles.

The covenant had not made a move in order three hours now, something was going on that was hidden from the USNC, therefore the humans had decided to make a move and start unleashing hell on the Thunder. Orders were commanded and stations were treated accordingly as both sides of this huge standoff decided to cut to the chase and engage.

"Fire gauss cannon!" Admiral 'Ace' Osborn commanded from the UNSC flagship, within seconds the massive dual set of turrets started warming up and within a minute, the Fist of Judgement had fired two massive streams of light and power that thrust through the empty space and slammed straight into the barrier of an Assault Carrier. The blast vibrated heavily and sent chunks of metal and plasma flying in every direction as meteors, the ship remained functional but without shields or full cooperation.

The Thunder remained motionless for a second, then suddenly the first set of corvettes and battle carriers unleashed thousands upon thousands of small Banshee and Seraph fighters that quickly sped up to attack the human fleet. Suddenly one banshee exploded in the direct middle of the inky darkness between the two fleets, a chain of events unfolded quickly as every mine in the vicinity of the explosion immediately activated and created a huge concessional wave of fire and rocky meteors. As the plumage of flames finally dissipated, revealing the volley of plasma and fire that was speeding through the airless vacuum only to smash straight into initial barriers of a set frigate and battle cruiser.

The mines had failed, which meant that the only plan left was to simply fight it out and discover the true victor of special warfare between the forces of the UNSC and the Thunder.


	11. Chapter 11

An explosion thundered down on the fleeing civilians without remorse or given quarter, green plasma cut through the entire group and let them shatter against the harsh floor without life or even limbs. A set of recurring screams continued to allow the atmosphere of fear, murder and chaos to reign throughout the city of New Hemisphere. More banshee fliers zoomed through the air quickly, leaving streaks of smoke and the mighty chasm of death in their wake.

As civilians fled from the rampaging vehicles, they ran into the more closed in corridors and experienced a new and more threatening enemy to deal with. Jiralhanae brute's ran at the unarmed humans and slashed at them brutally with their spiked weaponry, claws and ferocious tusks. The civilians screamed and attempted to flee the never-ending suffocation of covenant murderers. One man stood up and rushed the ape like aliens, tackling it without a sense of self-preservation, choosing to protect those around him by causing a diversion.

As the Jiralhanae focused on literally ripping this nuisance of a human into several pieces, the rest of the surviving civilians tried to run for safety but were merely shot down by carbine and needle rifle rounds. Kig –Yar snipers stood at the doorway into the corridor, they squawked together and fired their precision weapons with the intention to kill and then harvest the fallen bodies of this pathetic excuse of an enemy.  
One woman managed to flee the marauding soldiers, she glanced backwards and caught the site of her neighbours and family to be torn asunder and shot down until they barely were seen as recognisable humans, let alone men and women with individual identities. The smoke and noise of a faraway building collapse caught her attention as she saw a skyscraper collapse under constant pressure of plasma bombardment.

As the survivor managed to rush back out of the corridor she tripped over the corpse of another would be surviving civilian, blood was creeping everywhere and the capabilities of her survival was very minimal. As she attempted to stop the flowing, a sound caught her attention and within seconds she was looking up to the sight of three massive hairy alien brute warriors.  
A gasp escaped out of the human, she fell down immediately and acted as if she was part of the collection of corpses; if they were as dim witted as they looked then they wouldn't suspect her.

But something did, a small and scrawny bird like reptilian creature squawked from the side of the brute, it sprinted up to the fallen corpses with extreme speed and agility as it searched for any form of loot it could rip from the humans.  
Its long triangular face zoomed into her perspective as it inspected her quickly, its teeth were at least a third of its head mass and another would be the amounts of saliva it was releasing onto the floor as well as the survivors exposed face. It sniffed her face rudely, poking at her ear and snarling sharply as if it could detect the life that was exposed to it.

And then it bit her face.

Not gently or slowly; but with the speed, ferocity and tenacity of a rattle snake. The lasting survivor screamed as her life force was ripped away from her, blood exploded out of her neck as the Jackal scratched at it with its claws. Saliva, sweat and tears mixed in with the fluid of blood that started to appear all over her ripped and torn face. Within seconds, her conscious thought subsided and her cranial activity ceased to exist; the last thought on her mind was of the brutal ending and her own screaming that was even starting to deafen her.

**Meanwhile**  
Plasma, fire, smoke, ash, metal and radiational gases exploded in one massive wave of crimson plumage as the UNSC frigate erupted completely like some form of volcano. It had been hit by a lucky plasma shot that had ripped through the vulnerable armour hull and smashed straight into the slip –space reactor. The hunks of steel ran down the atmospherical shell of Genesis II and immediately coursed through down the gravitational push and became a spectacular gist of meteors and fiery comets.

More plasma bolts broke through the smoke and smashed against the barrier hull of the second UNSC frigate vehicle, the collective and concentrated fire immediately focused and tore its shields apart as if it were some form of toy in the mind of the covenant.

The human Battle Cruiser known as 'Reckless Fortitude' fired a heavy gauss cannon overload on the covenant armada, precisely it fired at a lone corvette; the large torrent of light managed to rip through what remained of its shielding and create a crater in its right wing. The corvette's wing started burning and smoke emanated from the whole left behind; it started spinning wildly in its place until finally another volley of cannon fire blew it to pieces.

The one ship that hadn't fired yet was the Storm flagship, the supreme carrier 'Infamous Fury' that now decided to make its move. Its forehead started lighting up with an extremely powerful source; the blinding light was enough to draw everyone else's attention to this spectacular controlled blast.

A torrent of piercing light completely ripped through the emptiness of space and smashed straight into the battle cruiser 'Reckless Fortitude', the beam of light was easily cracking through the light barrier shields of the USNC vehicle. This torrent of light was known as the general 'glassing' of planets to the forces of mankind, but no one had ever seen this blast used against other ships in space combat before.

The Reckless Fortitude suffered through the ongoing glass attack until its shields completely depleted, but the blast did not pause or stop; it simply continued to bury itself inside the hull of the Battle Cruiser until it finally split into two pieces with a hole in the middle. Ash and fire spewed out of the entire vehicle as both pieces separated perfectly with personal and pipes flying throughout space.


	12. Chapter 12

Flashes of white and blue, the deep feeling in your stomach over the prospect of maybe not surviving the fall; all of this came with the simple job of being a Hell jumping ODST marine of the UNSC. Robert looked over his HUD and assessed his ammunition count with the armour integrity of his suit, if he fell out of orbit he wanted to be sure he had enough oxygen in his suit to get back to land.

"All right Hell-Jumpers, remember your objective; we cannot let that ONI data fall into enemy hands" An AI voice broke into all of their intercom's, her voice seemed to appear every now and then, which was something that the ODST's didn't really appreciate.  
As the voice finished up, Marko immediately started to whine, "Why the hell doesn't she just come down here and do all this herself?" his argument did have reason, but it was filled with prolonged hatred and disillusions.

Grey White's visor came over the collected screen of all the ODST drop pod's, he pointed one armoured glove at the red symbols over his visor and spoke, "Look me in the eye soldier!" After their immediate drop of at the Fist of Judgement, they had all been assigned with the simple objective to protect precious ONI data on the central and capital city 'New Hemisphere.'  
Due to the fact that Robert's squad had been cut down to six ODST's, command had issued a squad of Spartan IV's named 'Gold Squad' to assist them with the protection of this certain ONI base and its data unit.

"Impact in 10"  
Robert recalculated his ammunition storage quickly and breathed in slowly, the last time he had been in combat was over the slaughter of 'Shield', this time he was possessed to make a difference and ensure that humanity could survive against the oncoming thunder.

"Impact in 5…4…3…2..1"  
The tremendous smash against the floor was enough to send any soldier flying pitch forward into his or her own pod, but for a heavily reinforced drop pod with a trained ODST soldier; it was a simple day to day task. Despite this, Robert was shaken back; but with the speed of a fully trained warrior he sprang straight into action.

The drop pod door sprang open from inside; letting the ODST jump out and immediately enter a world of warfare, carnage, bullets and blood. Robert jumped to the floor and set loose his Silenced SMG to fire upon the Jiralhanae warriors in front of him. Pools of brown blood started to form around the creatures as they fell to the floor, enraged and completely destroyed with overlapping fields of fire.

Another shuttle smashed straight into the floor, letting fragments of gravel explode into the air; its door spun open and suddenly the largest ODST member of the squad jumped out and landed heavily in a crouched position. It was Hammerhead, the brutal driving force of the hell jumper squad; the large soldier hefted a heavy rocket launcher onto his shoulder and immediately let one jackhammer missile fly through the air and smash into a squad of Brute minors.

"Rookie, this way" Hammerhead called out to him, sticking the heavy launcher onto his back holster and grabbing a silenced SMG from his thigh. As Robert ran towards him, two large purple ghosts swung by and passed the entire squad; leaving behind a hum and purple lines.  
The six ODST's met up and immediately started heading through the destroyed undergrowth of the massive city; they had an objective to complete and they would see it done.

**Meanwhile**  
"Human vessel has been eradicated from existence Hierarch" A Sangheili operator reported in to the prophet of truth.  
"Continue cleansing them of their sin, I will not stand for their filth to stain my holy ground or the presence of the hidden path." Storm announced to them all, paranoia starting to settle into his already delusional mind and voice.

The Harbinger walked up to him slowly, not bothering to bow or kneel to his master as he spoke loudly, "The Shipmaster of Reconciliation of Lies requests your presence Hierarch, he wishes to give you the gift of his pet Demon."  
Storm shrivelled his entire throne around and immediately waved his arm to the operators in dismissal, letting them control the Supreme Carrier's movements via the primary cockpit instead of his own quarters.

Suddenly a new figure entered the room, the Golden Zealot and Shipmaster; 'Mort'ang' of the royal order and commission of the Storm covenant. He was carrying a highly lit energy sword in one taloned hand, which was something the Harbinger was nervous about; a drawn weapon around a Hierarch was something not to be attempted.

But the drawn weapon wasn't for them, it was the force behind an entrapment of the Demon as a gift; in Mort'ang's second muscled arm he carried a leash that travelled down and held in place a blue armless Spartan IV.  
It was Gabriel, the gift.


	13. Chapter 13

They were in a suburban outfitting surrounded by skyscrapers, destroyed vehicles and buildings littered the roads. Robert could see corpses filtering the streets, men and women, human and covenant. The sight of a human soldier's husk raised little hope; at least some here had died fighting.  
"Jesus it's like reach all over again", Marko cracked his knuckles.  
Robert acknowledged this with a nod, he noticed the covenant bodies scattered over the rest, he counted a couple of Brutes and even Unggoy warriors clad in green armour that depicted methane tanks.

"So sir, what's the word on civilians?" The female ODST 'Nurse' asked with a concerned tone, she was wielding a standard issue Assault rifle in her arms but a look of frailty on her face.  
"You know our objective, were not here to help civilians…sorry" the Sergeant replied with a softer voice, he knew what it meant to abandon men and women but he knew he had to follow his orders.

The ODST's scattered through the street, slowly progressing through the destruction and mayhem left by the covenant. One side passage door opened at first movement, leaving a gaping hole of darkness leading through the skyscraper.  
"Ok squad, let's do this." Grey White grumbled out of his visor.  
"Sir, you don't seriously expect us to go through this building right?" Marko sighed, hefting his silenced rifle into a more comfortable position.  
"Son, the ONI building is almost eight streets away, we cross through this building and we'll be two streets away from it! Now do you want to stop complaining Francine?!" the Sergeant almost roared as he pulled out his shotgun and progressed into the building.

**Meanwhile**  
"Supreme Chieftain! The humans have still eluded us; their mines have halted our progression to the bridge!" The golden Jiralhanae grunted towards his master, the alpha brute of the group and the largest of them all.

Tangarus opened his eyes to the pathetic site of his underling General's reporting again bad news to him. He had taken to the prophets most recent advice and started to meditate upon actions, it was one of the few qualities he believed he had to be a greater commander then other Jiralhanae. Although currently he was in a 'tricky situation' as the humans would put it, the precious human information was still one street away but the blasted creatures were still defending their prize.  
The Hierarch was depending upon him; he would never let him down, at least not in front of the Sangheili scum that was proving to be little more than a hindrance at this point.

"Bring the wraiths onto the field! Crush any human opposition!" Tangarus roared to his three General's, they kneeled and nodded to him without a seconds hesitation.  
After dictating his own rough commands and orders, the Shipmaster and Supreme Chieftain watched over his small army of Brutes and Grunts stampede against the meagre forces of New Hemisphere.  
And then began to Meditate.

**Meanwhile**.  
"Christ its dark in here" Marko complained to his six man squad, the undergrowth corridors were indeed rather gloomy as they possessed very little elements of functioning power. One light revealed the horrendous sight of a decapitated civilian splattered in red blood.

"Son, you have a standard issue flashlight on your helmet" Grey white replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which in a sense, it was.  
"You think this thing is doing a difference? It's freaking dark no matter what." The ODST continued to complain, realising it was the only thing he could really do in a situation such as this.

"Shut up!" Robert hissed, raising his arm to halt the group.  
The sounds of Wraith blast's and screams filled the air as the soldiers hushed to an undertone, they were getting close, suddenly a loud squawk interrupted the usual sound of death and destruction and caught the rookie's attention quickly.  
Rob led the ODST's forward and opened an emergency hatch to his right, unsheathing a knife from his belt he leaned forward and gazed upon a Jackal sniper perched upon the railings. Slowly reaching forward he managed to insert his blade into the Jackal's neck, stopping any vocal cords from occurring as it died. The Kig –Yar stared up into the visor of its killer for a second, revealing its large misty eyes and feathered, reptilian head; then it bit forward and fell to the floor.

"Good work Private" Grey White proclaimed as he gazed over the railings at the streets down below. He saw a large covenant gathering in the streets, large hulking brutes yelling orders at the hapless grunts and jackals.

All their firepower focused on a squad of marines at the end of the road. It was obvious to tell that the police officers were drastically outnumbered and dying fast. Two large blue wraiths hovered near the last covenant, blasting their large mortar plasma batteries into the roads blockades.  
The Squad wouldn't last another minute.


	14. Chapter 14

"Fire all cannons, bring that carrier down!" The Admiral of the Fist of Judgement roared to the fleet under his command; after realising that the Infamous Fury had brought down three of his USNC shuttles with concentrated glassing, he figured it as a priority one target.  
**  
**Athena appeared next to him, reporting in another major casualty on his fleet before adding, "That supreme carrier's shields seem to be rather indestructible from this angle sir. The golden patterns and unknown beam may pinpoint the Infamous Fury's shields to be rather reminiscent of forerunner mirror barriers." Her voice was deadpan as she relayed this message, with all the strategies of history going through her data stream she still could not reveal a worthy move to make.

Ace swore outloud as he realised the power of mirror technology, then finally as another Frigate under his command started to crumble under the relentless power of the glass beam; he made the call.  
"All forces, retreat."  
**  
Meanwhile**  
Grey White piped up, "Hammerhead! Get over here with that gun!"  
The large ODST Corporal strode forward, his rocket launcher primed, ready and loaded in with the two final jackhammer rockets that he possessed.  
The Sarge roared to the rest of the ODST's, "Men! We rail over the side of this wall and catch these covie rats with their tails behind their legs! Hammerhead, I want two shots in that nearest wraith before they knew what hit them!"

The corporal nodded and sat himself down for a clean shot; the rest of the ODST's lined their ropes to the wall and got ready for a quick descent.  
Marko whined, "Sarge, is their a day that we don't have to go on a suicide mission?"  
The Sargent roared, "Look me in the eye soldier!" as the squad descended down the railings quickly, their zip lines forcing them down to the street level. Robert watched the covenant forces, they hadn't spotted him yet, they were to content in obliterating the marines.

Suddenly two large jackhammer rockets flew from the railings and landed into the first wraith with a large explosion, Hammerhead had aimed well.  
The wraith cracked open, showering the grunts nearby with a shower of metal and plasma, the grunts hopped onto the floor bewildered by these turns of events.  
The ODST's landed onto the floor, right in front of a small squad of grunts and brutes that were protecting the second wraith from any intruders.  
"Open fire!" Grey White commanded.

The Hell jumpers opened fire immediately, their never-ending wave of projectiles cutting down the brutes and grunts quickly and efficiently.  
Robert lined up his shot at another squad that were running towards him, just as another set of rockets flew into the wraith, causing it to explode much like the one before; fountains of plasma bombarding the already destroyed floor until the entire vehicle split open like the shell of a lobster.

The blue and purple plasma ripped through the air and sparked against the floor, it seemed the ODST's had the Covenant's attention now.  
"Ok quickly, through the streets!"  
The squad ran through the side passage quickly as the wave of projectiles cut in from behind them, Marko was panting excessively over the extent of physical activities, but didn't complain about it.

Hammerhead unfortunately was still up on the railing ledge and had not received the order to retreat back down into the streets. So he remained firing at the covenant forces with his Silenced SMG until the forces of storm retaliated brutally and efficiently.

This mistake cost him his life.

Robert looked up at the sight of Hammerhead still firing down at the covenant with his machine pistol; and without a warning or sense of hesitation a volley of needles seeked and sliced right into his gut, every one puncturing through his soft armour and bleeding him roughly. Then the needles initiated their primary function and exploded together in a small pink cloud still large enough to destroy the ODST armour and kill Hammerhead.

"Dammit! Hell-Jumper report!" Grey White roared through his mike.  
"He's gone Sarge; we need to get out of here." Marko sighed, slouching his back and clicking his firearm back into place.  
Rob nodded, agreeing with the irritating ODST for once in his life.  
The Sergeant spun and led the Squad without comment, although Rob could tell there was anger and even visible agitation brewing inside his silver helmet.


	15. Chapter 15

The spectacular sight of a falling shuttle was truly something to behold, the countless comets that spiralled out of control as the entire mass of metal and mesh thundered down through the destructive environment before smashing heavily into the solid set of vegetation. The explosion could be seen from miles around as the huge plumage and upheaval of fire and soil blew up into the air, the mechanical remains of a UNSC frigate had just become part of the mass of the forest ecosystem that covered almost the entire great planet of Genesis II.  
Lucifer watched over the massive disruption of this once majestic planet from his high vantage point in the descending UNSC pelican; they had almost arrived directly at the current objective of securing the main ONI settlement and rescuing survivors when the orders had changed.

Someone up high in command had realised that the service data of some important forerunner coordinates was a bigger potential threat and worry to the forces of the UNSC, so the squad had made the decision to split the team into two parts. South and Lucifer were to be sent on the 'suicide mission' with the ODST's while the rest of the squad got to defend civilians and, as North liked to put it, live to fight another day.  
The Black and White Spartan's didn't let loose a word of complaint at this, despite the lack of communication between them; Lucifer could tell that South didn't like his new squad either and they were both happy to get away from them and actually do something helpful to the rest of humanity.

As the large hovering vehicle finally landed on the remains of New Hemisphere, the two contrasting Spartan IV warriors finally managed to jump out and land heavily on the soft muddy floor; their thick boots loudly impacted with the floor as their entire armoured mass landed on a gravitational pull.

Lucifer took the lead immediately and rushed through the destroyed vehicles, roads and buildings that slowly formulated this once great city; he aimed his battle rifle quickly at the sound of a squawk, turning around completely and resting on one knee as he fired a three bound burst that ripped through the Kig – Yar sniper before it could even aim.  
The jackal dropped down to the road and immediately released a flood of blood, only for its skull to be literally stepped on by the large white Spartan IV that walked over the creature without even looking or thinking about it. Lucifer however decided to stay back and grab the fallen Beam rifle from the floor and stick to his back holster as a backup and reserve weapon.

A lack of communication circled around the black and white Spartan's; as Lucifer felt uncomfortable with any form of communication as South apparently never spoke to anyone ever. As they walked through the reminiscent of New Hemisphere, the all too familiar sound of plasma and gunfire came at them from the front; the direction of the ONI building.  
The Spartan's sped up and sprinted straight for the noise, using their heavily reinforced frames to boost them forward faster than any normal man as their suits started to overload with the pressure; finally they stopped over the sight of a ramped bridge in front of them.

Lucifer crouched down to one knee and peered through the magnified scope of the alien sniper rifle, at first glance he saw the large triangular building of ONI covered in plasma burns and destroyed metal, but as he continued to look; the sight of a small squad of ODST's creeping up behind the armada of covenant caught his attention.

**Meanwhile**  
Robert crawled past the small column of light that separated two recognisable hiding places, the stench and sounds of the nearby Storm units were nearly too much to bear but he managed nonetheless to catch up to his five man team.

In front of his hidden squad, a massive armada of Jiralhanae, Jackals and Grunts stood at the gates of the massive pyramid like structure; the ONI capital and special ops building of the entire city of New Hemisphere. As the Storm force commenced to continue battering the door down, the sergeant 'Grey White' had come up with a plan to sneak around the unstoppable force of covenant and get into the building from behind, grabbing the forerunner coordinates and getting the hell out of there before covenant reinforcements showed up.  
But there was one catch…they had to sneak past this massive formation of Storm warriors.

The Sergeant gestured with one finger for the first ODST 'Marko' to move forward as the enemy forces still remained distracted with blowing up the front door of the ONI building; luckily the Storm couldn't use their wraiths as the large mortars were now simply piles of useless metal and plasma.

The team slowly moved forward around the force, crawling at points but merely crouching most of the way until they were nearly at their objective. Unfortunately, just at that precise moment something dreadful happened to the Hell-jumpers, something that immediately would resolve in death.  
The wind changed direction, swopping back around so it headed towards the covenant and filled their collective nostrils with the heavy scent of humans. The Kig-Yar immediately shrieked and armed their crystalline needler's in fear as they combed the area for any remaining human survivors.  
Robert attempted to crawl faster, but unfortunately wasn't quick enough to escape detection from the Jackal scouts of the covenant.

Within seconds, the entire ODST squad had been discovered.


	16. Chapter 16

"Get the hell of me!" Thresher screamed as his neck was grabbed from behind by a heavily muscled and clawed rough paw. The hand led up to a hairy and reinforced arm that was crudely covered with a large slab of metal over the creature's shoulder. A rough roar responded to the ODST and quickly the brute flung him into the solid wall of patrial bricks, Thresher fell to the floor roughly on his face; then he swiftly grabbed the USNC sniper rifle from the floor and let fire a round that streaked through the air and cut into the Jiralhanae's lower thigh.

The brute roared ferociously and stumbled slowly towards his prey, gripping onto a large brute shot with his right arm and preparing to swing it at the hell – jumper. Three Jackals appeared next to the brutish warrior and watched eagerly as the ODST was stabbed in the chest with the large bayonet blade of the weapon, Thresher thrashed like the animal of his namesake as he was lifted up into the air until blood loss and shock finally silenced him. The brute roared in triumph and withdrew his brute shot, only to roughly slice it downwards so it would behead the human.

Robert watched this whole spectacle from a kneeling position in the middle of the procession of brutes, jackals and grunts. The remainders of his squad kneeled with him, completely covered by the overwhelming amount of weaponry pointed at them.  
The covenant laughed and roared in amusement as the brute lifted the helmet and head of Thresher and waved it into the air in his large hairy and muscled arm, the ODST sniper had never stood a chance and his death was something to be vengeful about.

"You bastards" Grey White swore at the horde of covenant, his weaponry useless in front of him as the survival of himself and the rest of his squad stood at stake, "You complete and utter…"  
"Quiet" A voice cut him off, the rough and harsh voice of a Jiralhanae Supreme Chieftain that appeared in front of them, wielding a large gravity hammer and encased in heavy black and red armour. It was the brute leader 'Tangarus' who immediately looked down to sniff the ODST's and bare his large jaws to speak, "Your leader shall speak now."

No one spoke for a moment, it was not until the brute activated his gravity hammer and let blue sparks rain down on the four remaining hell jumpers; Grey White looked up defiantly and spoke to him, "What the hell do you want?"  
Tangarus growled and snatched the sergeant up from the floor with one muscular arm; he then peered at him slowly and rumbled, "The coordinates of the hidden path, what is the code to decipher it." For a covenant brute, this Chieftain spoke rather well English; even understanding how insults and general conversation worked.

"The what?" Grey white replied honestly, earning a tighter squeeze around the neck and the brute to roar at him angrily. The other covenant forces looked eager to slaughter the rest of the ODST's and if the Sergeant was doing what Robert thought he was, then he would be buying time.  
"Hidden path!" Tangarus thundered at him, losing patience and throwing him sideways down to the earth so the ODST could land heavily at his feet.  
Grey White's helmet fell of as he landed on the tough ground, the red reticule of the silver visor bounded over and laid motionless in the dirt; he spat out a goblet of blood at the presence of his enemy and swore, "Your just going to have to kill me, because I don't know what the hell that means; and that's probably a sure sign that it doesn't exist."

Tangarus screamed in fear and anger, smashing down his fully charged gravity hammer straight onto the squad of ODST's in absolute fury; most managed to dive out of the way, instead of 'Nurse' who had remained a fraction to slow and experienced the brunt of the entire weapon. Her armour and body pieces were flung everywhere as the hammer drained its charge and left nothing standing or defiant.  
"You son of a bitch!" Robert yelled at the brute, trying to stand up but being forced down by the taloned feet of another Jiralhanae warrior that was laughing at him over the loss of yet another team-mate. Marko was struggling as well, trying to exact revenge onto this Chieftain and avenge the loss of two of his squad mates now.

Grey White stood up warily and formed a fist in both of his hands as he looked down at the corpse of his soldier, then at the visors of the two last remaining ODST's under his command. He took a deep breath and stepped forward defiantly towards the Chieftain in one more act of complete defiance and pure will to never back down or break. Tangarus looked surprised at the human's lack of self-preservation but took the challenge head on, grabbing the puny human with one tight claw around his neck and roaring into his face.  
The Sergeant coughed as the taloned hand started to cut into his neck, letting goblets of blood fall down into the already familiar palette of red on the floor. But then he looked back at his hell-jumpers, took a deep breath in and decided to not go down without a bloody fight.

"Look me in the eye you fucker!" He roared at the brute with complete anger, complete testimony and a deep passion to do whatever harm he could to the Jiralhanae warrior that was holding him up.  
And so the ODST warrior, defender of mankind and leader of his squad of Hell-jumpers retched his head backwards and suddenly lunged forward; ferociously bitting the brute's face in a frenzy of fury and rage.  
Tangarus screamed in animalistic fear and threw the frenzied ODST away from him, trying to cover the fountain of brown blood that emanating from the socket that used to be his left eye. The other covenant warriors seemed confused at this new move, unsure whether to attack or let the Chieftain slaughter them all.

Grey White spat out at the maniacal brute, letting the sight of a large mangled eyeball land heavily on the floor before the defiant ODST spoke, "Look me in the eyes now you fucking bastard."

Robert and Marko were completely shocked as they realised what had just happened in front of them, but now it was too late; despite the ferocity of their commanding leader, now the Covenant would simply kill them all and grab the forerunner data.  
But that was not to be.

But for a simple light round that pierced the air and created a resounding sound, the familiar flash of a blue streak of particle light cut straight through the head of a nearby brute minor and the methane tank of a panicked grunt.


	17. Chapter 17

The relentless beam of light continued to shatter through the dark emptiness of space until it smashed straight into the back of a retreating battle cruiser, its integrity started to dwindle down as the glassing torrent merely cut through and started to chew into the back of its hull. The entire fleet of humanity was starting to back away from the unstoppable and undefeatable force of the Thunder, and now the covenant were making them pay for it.

Half of the UNSC fleet already lay either on the destroyed segments of Genesis II as they plummeted through space, or they had been torn asunder and left alone floating in the space. The Fist of Judgement was luckily not lost in the relentless carnage; the glassing beam seemed unable to cut through it's over shield barriers, the only ship that could survive against that unstoppable flow of energy and light.

The familiar sight of another explosion rocketed through the entire fleet as the battle cruiser was incapable of handling the relentless beam of light, the huge plumage of maroon fire and smoke erupted out from the fleet and left behind large segments of metal and engine coils. The UNSC Battle Cruiser had been completely eradicated; no survivors had made it out.

**Meanwhile**  
Tangarus roared out in rage and fear as the blue beam of light slashed through one of the Jiralhanae warriors in his command, the methane tank of a nearby Unggoy smashed and suddenly the little grunt was propelled forward and smashed into another back of covenant under his command; blowing them into disarray with an explosion of green gas.

The ODST's saw this chance as an opportunity and immediately grabbed their sidearms; firing them into the backs of their enemy and causing more confusion into the ranks of the Storm covenant. More blue streaks swung down and cut straight through the thick hide of the Jiralhanae minors like a hot knife through butter; the sound of roars and gunfire was almost deafening, which added even more confusion to the already large amount.  
The chieftain activated his 'invincibility' over-shields as soon as another volley of blue shots resounded through the sky, the quick streak of light quickly smashed down on his red heavy shields and rebounded it completely into the air. Tangarus fell backwards as two more rounds of blue plasma splashed against his shields and rebounded of; then he shook his heavy bearded head and ran backwards to the door of the ONI base.

Lifting his hammer in a heavy act of defiance, the Chieftain rushed forward and smashed the weapon down; smashing the door into thousands of tiny pieces and allowing him to jump straight through to the over side. Tangarus recovered quickly as he found himself inside the ONI building amongst hundreds of desks, monitor's and classified data files; then with a snort of disgust he rampaged through the entire base, searching for the forerunner data that would reside somewhere in the middle.  
Sergeant "Grey White' stood up slowly from the ground, grabbing the UNSC shotgun from the amass of covenant corpses and immediately opening fire on the Jiralhanae warriors that stood in front of him. His two remaining ODST soldiers stood next to him, firing their silenced SMG's to weather down and eradicate the army in front of them.

A brute minor roared as he saw two of his own kin fall to the relentless bullets of the soldier behind him, spun around and prepared to fire the large brute shot in its heavily muscled arms; it was the same Jiralhanae that had beheaded Thresher not too long ago, the ODST's blood still resided on the brute shot's bayonet blade.  
But before it could fire, a massive white fist smashed into the exterior of its large elbow, smashing the entire elbow inwards so the arm was completely inoperable; but before the brute could even hope to respond, a second fist smashed straight into the creature's spine and smashed it inwards so the murderous brute lost all forms of life.

South looked over the large creature he had just killed and picked up its brute shot, sticking in a six pack of grenades he successfully reloaded the weapon and held it at his side. Then he looked over, grunted once towards the ODST's and ran off to slaughter more Jiralhanae, his heavy white armour bouncing as he slashed the bayonet of the brute shot across the neck of a brute minor.  
Robert breathed in, "Well thank god we've got these guys on our side." Reloading his SMG, he crouched down and pressed his finger against the moist puddle that used to be one of their team-mates, after making a cross with his fingers he stood up and waited for orders.

The last of the brutes were being cut down as soon as Sergeant 'Grey White' looked at the last members of his squad, "Lets hunt that brute down, I don't want his filthy hands touching that data or any human ever again."  
Marko and Robert looked at each other slowly, nodded and renounced their catchphrase as they ran into the ONI building, "Hoorah!"


	18. Chapter 18

The Jiralhanae Supreme Chieftain stood at the base of the large room, watching his three surviving brethren search through the foolish human storage and ripping apart the desks that situated throughout the entire body. A human had been found hiding under one of the wooden tables and had immediately been stabbed harshly through the neck with a brute spiker. Tangarus slowly stepped forward on his large taloned feet and prepared to enter the room that would hold the coordinates of 'Hidden path.'

He snorted outloud, letting the minor brutes back away so he could enter first and set his one remaining eye on the large block of forerunner rock that lay on display in the central point of the room. As the hammer wielding brute grabbed onto the tablet, he laid his eyes on the assortment of forerunner symbols that contained the mysterious 'Hidden path.'  
And then he grunted, "Get the phantom over our position; it's time to hand this to the Hierarch personally."

**Meanwhile**  
Two large Mgalekgolo hunters stood at the base of the hanger bay, they growled together in a thousand voices and charged their massive green plasma coils to fire at the incoming soldiers. Thick UNSC rounds smashed into their protective shield and bounced off or embed deeply, one of the large creatures fired a fuel rod at the Spartan's but only managed to receive a large volley of grenade rounds to drop it in a splatter of orange blood and green metal.  
Golden Spartan 'North' kneeled down and continue firing at the second hunter with his DMR, letting the weapons specialist fire the weaponry at the remaining Mgalekgolo until it fell to the floor, bullets and shrapnel heavily blowing through its vulnerable orange skin.  
East reloaded his UNSC grenade launcher and progressed forward with his two other team-mates, the hanger bay door had been blown open a long time ago and one could only speculate on how many survivors or covenant crept inside.

The weapons specialist entered the large open room with a finger on the trigger, slowly leading the three man team of golden Spartan IV's into the presence of several more covenant warriors, these Unggoy were carrying heavy specialist fuel rod cannons and prepared to fire on the exposed body of East. Battle Rifle fire cut through all three heads of the initial grunt specialist in a perfectly spaced volley, the methane gas explosion was clearly enough to distract the others and let them become simple corpses in no time.

West entered the room and levelled the last of the grunts quickly and efficiently, finally she reloaded her Battle Rifle and looked to her commander, "Any reports from the Admiral?"  
The DMR wielding Spartan looked back at her and shook his head, "Last thing I got was the order for the fleet to retreat." North observed the destroyed vehicles and corpses of the hanger bay, searching for any form of survivor that may be hiding.

The female warrior stretched out her chest briefly as she readjusted her spine, noticing that North had immediately stared at her, letting down his guard. He continued to point his visor towards her large top piece until she glanced at him and he hurriedly looked away. She sighed and continued to move forward, having an audience of irritating wannabe boyfriends was something she never truly experienced until now; but it was annoying as all hell.

North shook his head quickly, "East, get South on the radio; I want his status pronto"  
"Sir? Do you even think he'll answer the radio?" East questioned, "He's not exactly the heavy talker of the group."  
West butted in shortly, rearming her battle rifle and speaking slowly, "You could always contact Lucifer, he doesn't talk much but at least he physically can."  
The commanding Spartan IV breathed in for a moment, evaluating the need to know of his team's status and the lack of wanting to talk to the newcomer black warrior. He took one look at West, smiled and decided to make his call.  
But unfortunately he was unable to say it.

Because at that precise moment, a thunderous light and sound penetrated through the atmosphere of New Hemisphere and continued to rocket the entire city with bombardment's of visual and vocal overdose.  
East looked straight out the window for the source of this massive noise, but as the continuous thumping and draining of plasma voiced through them; the sound of cracking glass filled the air of this capital city. They didn't need to look to know what that was, humanity had failed and the Storm had won.  
They were glassing the planet.


	19. Chapter 19 : The Fall of another

"Go go go!" Grey white roared as the trio of ODST's ran through the remains of desks and tables, they knew that the chieftain would be at his prize soon; and they knew that they had to stop him no matter what. Marko and Robert sprinted down the columns in haste, jumping over and sliding across any table or obstacle that got in their way.

A roar interrupted them as two large Jiralhanae minors rounded at a corner and fired their heavy spiked projectile hand held weaponry, large chunks of metal that had been crudely sharpened and stuffed into the spiker spewed out and splattered against the wall, across the table and finally hitting Robert's chest piece but luckily not sinking through. The brutes roared and continued to fire their weaponry, stopping to reload only when they completely ran out of shells; only to be peppered with overwhelming fields of fire that placed them into the ground with brown blood surrounding their corpses.

Robert kept running with the remains of his squad unit, all too aware of the burning feeling in his chest as he spike kept rubbing in slowly through his armour, but he gritted his teeth and continued running; he wasn't prepared to let his team-members or fallen friends down over the excavation of ONI data.  
Another solid volley of spikes rounded around the corner as the ODST's found themselves in the presence of three large Jiralhanae; one of which was a huge brute clad in black and red armour and wielding a gravity hammer, Tangarus.

"Open them up!" Sarge roared as the two soldiers under his command dropped to one knee each and fired full most at the opposing brutes, however soon enough the Supreme Chieftain had activated his invincibility shielding and ran off with another member of his species. The final Jiralhanae suffered a crueller fate, being shot to pieces until nothing was left but the non-recognisable hunk of hairy flesh, metal and blood.

"He's getting away!" Robert growled, grabbing a fallen UNSC Rocket Launcher from the armoury deposit, wielding it onto his shoulder and sprinting up the stairs to his right so he could catch the brute from behind and blow him to pieces. The other ODST's managed to follow as he ran up and found himself on the highest corridor of the ONI building; Tangarus's massive hulky frame could be seen retreating through the long alleyway with the data in his large taloned arms.  
Robert stopped short, crouching down and firing one singular jackhammer missile to swoop through the thin corridor with deadly precision, leaving behind a smoky trail, before it smashed straight into the back of the Supreme Chieftain.  
Fire, smoke, metal and the resounding screams of the brute filled the corridor room, as the other hell-jumpers caught up; all that could be seen was the destructive flames and continuous set of smoke. However as it started to clear up, Robert peered through and saw the sight of the Chieftain staggering upwards and sprinting to the side again.  
"Dammit!" Grey White roared, sprinting after him intently with the USNC shotgun in his hands and a cruel intent etched upon his face.

Robert sprang straight after him, managing to reach his side just to see the end of the road; the brute chieftain was sprinting right to the open door to the top of the building; just when it did something completely of putting and surprisingly agile.  
Tangarus span around perfectly in a circle, his large hammer still holstered on his back and the forerunner data securely held in his companions arms, as the Chieftain spun back to look at the sprinting ODST's his one good eye focused intently on the Sergeant 'Grey White', peering right at him in absolute anger in the one second he had before he had to turn back.

But as he turned away, his right arm twitched violently downwards; flinging a large object towards the Hell-Jumpers that would no doubt; kill them all.  
The spike grenade looped through the air until it finally smashed straight into the chest piece and latched itself onto the Sergeant, he paused for a second; confused but also content as the grenade's timer started to tick. Then with the last of his strength, he pushed the two ODST's in front of him out of the door and attempted to cover the grenade's radius with his gloved arms.  
And then it detonated.

Robert shook his head in fury and combined agony, he led the charge on top of the ONI building and watched as Tangarus successfully jumped on a hovering phantom that was stationed right on the hanger bay, as the ODST sprinted straight for the last brute minor with the data; his K –Bar knife ripped out of the sheath and ready to kill.

The forerunner data was thrown crudely into the air, flying upwards until it was caught in the rough grip of the brute Chieftain.

Robert roared as he knocked the brute minor over on the ground, he smashed his knee into its hide and before it could retaliate he stabbed his knife right through its jugular and slashed across so it would die immediately; but no matter how many times he stabbed the Jiralhanae warrior, the phantom, the Supreme Chieftain and the data involved had got away.  
Marko breathed loudly and fired his weapon at the retreating vehicle, then swore as it reached a safe distance and started ascending to the heavens, "We failed" He spoke slowly, knowing how many lives had been lost all for nothing.

**Meanwhile**  
Sergeant 'Grey White' lay motionless on the ground, his chest completely torn asunder and pocketed with massive crudely sharpened pieces of metallic spikes, his neck and vital organs had been completely pulverised by the explosion but unfortunately it had not killed him straight out, leaving him to suffer a little while longer.  
A small green clad Unggoy warrior crept up to him from the side, he was the last of his platoon and his methane pack had been ruptured; leaving him weak but full of vengeful hate on the dying ODST warrior. So it raised its small plasma pistol in one large paw and prepared to fire hell on the suffering Hell-Jumper.

In one fluid movement, Grey White reached up with his one operatable arm and grabbed a long sharpened spike from his neck, ripping it out of his neck and flinging it straight to the grunt that fell crudely in a puff of blue blood and pain. A new torrent of blood spewed out of the wound left in Sarge's neck, but as he looked up at the ceiling and smiled; he knew it was worth it.

Robert and Marko smashed through the door back to their fallen leader in a hurry, a medical kit in their arms and a joined concerned expression etched on their faces, they kneeled over and checked the Sarge's pulse; but as Marko shook his head, they knew they were too late and he was gone.

Robert bowed his head slowly, letting tears drop down onto his visor as he reinacted a cross over his chest. A noise startled him from the entrance of the corridor, as he looked up he could see the two large armoured figures of 'Lucifer' and 'South' staring down at them.  
They couldn't be any more differently marked, Lucifer wore spotless black armour and carried a beam rifle while South was covered in blood stained white armour, carrying a brute shot and was almost twice as large.

Then suddenly the Black Spartan IV reached over, grabbed Robert's arm and helped him up from the cold dead floor, "I know this isn't the time, but we need to get the hell out of here."  
As he spoke, a UNSC pelican hovered close by at the open roof top of the ONI building, its windows flaring red and white as it reflected the glassing that New Hemisphere was suffering under the constant beam of the covenant.


	20. Chapter 20

"Gun it!" North shouted from his side seat in the UNSC class warthog, they had found the car like vehicle in the hanger bay; one of the few vehicles that still actually worked in the entire city of New Hemisphere. West was manning the steering wheel of the entire vehicle while East manned the huge revolving machine gun on the back of the hog.  
The vehicles lights flickered on abruptly, dust falling from the sides and window canopy until the engine finally fired up and the entire warthog burst out of the open doors of the hanger into a whole new world.

Four massive Assault Carrier class Storm covenant ships of the large fleet of 'Thunder' were now situated in the heavy atmospherical sky; from their vantage points they shot down huge torrents and streams of plasma and light down into the awaiting chasm of New Hemisphere. Worst of all was the Supreme Carrier in the middle of the whole formation, the unstoppable covenant flagship that had been named the 'Infamous Fury' was firing three whole streams of 'glassing' light beams into the hard backed earth of Genesis II, toppling skyscrapers and burning the entire city down to the ground.  
It looked, like the re-enactments of hell.

The small UNSC class warthog blew through the city undergrowth quickly, trying to get to the excavation point so they could get picked up supposedly and leave this planet to its supposed fate of annihilation and destruction. West drove ferociously at the wheel, dodging destroyed segments of road, toppled buildings and even other vehicles that had simply been abandoned on the road after the invasion of New Hemisphere.

As the warthog burst straight out of the undergrowth, it picked up unwanted attention from two small scout Ghosts, manned by grunts that immediately zoned in and fired huge goblets of plasma at the back of the human land vehicle. They tracked the retreating set of Spartans and fired continuously from a safe distance, trying to cause some form of damage before they were both nailed and blown up by the relentless and overwhelming power of East's mounted machine gun.  
Two identical explosions of plasma rocketed through the street as the ghosts' engines went into overdrive and collapsed completely; leaving a smoky blue trail that was immediately destroyed as a new covenant vehicle gave chase.

A brute chopper was thundering towards the fleeing warthog, firing inaccurate bolts that smashed around and into the back of the vehicle, propelling it forward but causing several moments of uncoordinated driving and harm. West swore as a bolt smashed right over and hit the car in front of her, almost knocking it in her way and stalling the warthog completely.

"Get rid of that damn chopper!" She screamed to East, who was already firing down on the heavy front wheel of the covenant vehicle but not seemingly managing to rip through its tough front armour. He roared and continued to fire nonetheless, aiming for the cockpit of the bike and trying to blow the Brute of his own ride.  
"LZ is dead ahead!" North shouted from the side, watching the skies as a UNSC pelican started hovering ahead of them, it was slowing down rapidly and extending its undertow arms to physically pick them up.

But that's when the chopper made its move, it accelerated extremely quickly and smashed straight on the back of the warthog, the huge wheel cutting through the thick metal of the hog and chewing up the mounted machine turret with apparent ease.

It was a strange image; a USNC pelican swung low and hovering over the roads of New Hemisphere, the warthog trying to come in close enough to be picked up and a large covenant brute chopper who's front wheel was literally on top of the back of the hog, ripping through its turret and slowing it down. All of this was of course followed by the inevitable prospect of the glassing beam that was following the entire street from at least three miles away, but gaining speed across to them extremely quickly.

And that's when East made his move, any efforts for kicking the brute chopper away seemed to be a waste of time so instead he did what he was capable of doing; he ripped of the reminiscent turret of the hog, cocked it ready and fired the machine turret straight into the exposed engine of the chopper and its main wheel. He roared as he pounded bullet after bullet after bullet into the maw of the brute vehicle, letting steam rise both out of his turret and the enemy vehicle.

But as he fired continuously at the engine of the vehicle, he let his guard down to the brute's ability to accelerate yet again; and when the Jiralhanae grunted to himself and fired the chopper's booters, the huge cutting wheel of the vehicle sliced straight through the armour of the golden Spartan IV and pinned his right leg to the revolving wheel.  
East roared in absolute agony as his lower half of the body began to become shredded at the expense of his enemy, then he turned his head and looked straight at the visor's of his comrades; North the leader and West the carer.

He turned his head back again and grimaced against the continuous drilling of his legs, then unclipped a UNSC fragmentation grenade from his pocket and activated it to fire. Then with one final move he jumped upwards with his one still operable leg and latched straight onto the Jiralhanae warrior driving the chopper, forcing the brute to steer away as he threw the grenade straight into the revolving wheel.  
West watched in horror as the chopper swung of her vehicle and smashed straight into a column at the side, then without a word of warning the entire chopper blew up in a spectacular red and blue explosion that sent the huge wheel flying forwards. East had been on that vehicle, he had sacrificed himself for them.

The UNSC pelican swung lower as the warthog finally managed to pick up speed, no longer carrying the chopper it was grabbed via the underbelly apparatus of the hovering vehicle. Then as soon as the hog was secured, the entire pelican thundered of into the outer hemisphere; leaving behind the smoky remains and ruins of New Hemisphere as well as all the brave soldiers who had died there.


	21. Chapter 21

"The cleansing of the human filth is still underway Hierarch, however we still have some of our own forces down there, the area in which they are evacuating has not been touched yet my lord." An Elite operator interrupted his master.

The Prophet of Storm frowned as he sat at the high chamber chair of the huge and heavily reinforced Supreme Carrier, 'Infamous Fury'. Mort'ang and the Harbinger stood at either end of his shoulders and throne, the human gift in between them both.  
"Give them a few moments to flee the retched human planet, then destroy the entire city" Storm drawled slowly, truth was that he barely cared of their lives but the possession of the forerunner data was crucial and the joint force of Thunder pivoted on his kind decision's every now and then.  
The operator nodded and left Storm to his transaction in peace.

Gabriel sat kneeling at the prophet's feet, his one arm placed behind him and his eyes closed as he tried to regain consciousness, but over the events of the several days in imprisonment, he had not been treated well and was now exhausted.  
Mort'ang tugged at the leash around the Spartan IV's neck and drawled, "O Hierarch, I have brought you one of the revered demons as a gift of my allegiance and my ability to serve as a high ranking fleet-master in your command."

Storm tugged at his chin as he observed the human offering, he was thinking furiously as he knew exactly what was going on here. The fool, Mort'ang was attempting to use the gift of a prisoner to gain more political power; if Storm refused then the cohabitation of Thunder would probably not last long, so the thought tactically.

"Capturing a Demon seems to be a feat only placed on the most admirable of Sangheili" He drawled out slowly, letting every word weigh on the shipmaster Zealot. Mort'ang puffed out his chest proudly as the compliment was received, his mandibles twitching at the thought of his new promotion.  
But then the prophet stopped him with one large wave of his hand, "However as you may see, the great journey of our forefathers is about to take place and I require no demon to meddle in the Thunder's might"  
Mort'ang stepped forward, "I could execute him for you Hierarch" His taloned arm was placed on the white handle as he prepared to activate it, the large black elite behind Storm grumbled nervously at the drawn weapon.

"What a waste of a gift then" Storm continued to preach, letting a light hit his eye, "No Shipmaster, I wish for you to demonstrate your prowess and keep him in a holding pen of your choosing; and remember his restraint is in harmony with your rise in the ranks of the Thunder."

Mort'ang stood for a moment, confused with his orders but then quickly bobbed his head like a bird; kneeled to the prophet and dragged the human offering away.  
The Prophet of Storm almost smiled at his own brilliance, when his forces freed the Spartan IV from Mort'ang's imprisonment; the shipmaster would never bring up this matter again.

**Meanwhile**  
The dim lighting caught the soldier's attention as he attempted to rise from his position, a sharp pain arched from his right leg that refused to allow him control. His chest felt like it was on fire and he could barely feel the right side of his face, East spat out a goblet of blood and let it fling across the air without the presence of a visor and land softly into the ground.

Blurry vision incorporated the heavily wounded Spartan IV as he opened his eyes, something was standing over him; maybe a doctor or surgeon that had come to fix him up and make him healthy again.  
But as East felt the floor with one tough set of gloves, he knew that he was still on the remains of New Hemisphere; and that the figure in front of him was definitely not a friendly.

"The Demon awakes" A tough voice drawled out to him, suddenly a pair of rough arms grabbed onto him and tugged him upwards into a kneeling position; the scaly wrists and two sets of primary fingers identified the enemies as Sangheili warriors.

East looked around quickly with the speed of a panicked animal, his vision improving as he noticed he was surrounded by a small group of Elite majors and minors all carrying storm rifles and plasma based projectile weaponry. Looking back at himself the lone Spartan IV almost inhaled in fear as he saw the stump of his right leg, it had been completely chewed away by the raw strength and power of the chopper. A noise distracted him of his own wounds; it was the sound of something scraping a soft object over a harder one. At the head of the group, a large golden elite was crouching over the soft muddy soil and dipping its taloned arm to gather mud from the floor and smell it.  
It was General Bremat, the surge of the Covenant.

The golden general stood up slowly, grabbing the white handle from his thigh holster and looking down at the human, it's boots splattered mud into the golden armour of the Spartan IV; contrasting his muddy and destroyed yellow to the pristine of Bremat.

"Do you believe in honour Demon" Bremat drawled out slowly, one claw lingering on the activation trigger of his energy sword.  
East spat out another goblet of blood and yelled, "I'm not telling you anything you hinge headed freak, you won't get any information out of me!"

The general paused for a moment, looking around at his forces before he crouched down and stared at the helmetless Spartan IV, his mandibles rotating around as if they were inspecting him; he breathed hot air into East's face as it replied, "I merely asked if you believe in honour."

"Well I do, I believe in it very much!" The Spartan replied, hoping that this answer meant he could fight his way out with the simple principle of honour protecting him; if he knew anything about Elite's it was that they stuck truly to the code of honour.  
Bremat stood up slowly, looking back down at the Spartan IV before he spoke one more time, sheathing his holster, "Good…because I don't."

And without another word, the elite turned around and walked away from the Spartan IV in absolute disgust; letting the surrounding Sangheili warriors open fire on the kneeling human and pulverise him with repeated shots of superheated plasma that cut through his armour and continued to melt his body until he physically became nothing but ash.


	22. Chapter 22

"Status Athena" The Admiral's low rumbling voice broke over the pitched silence of the cockpit, even the members of the crew seemed quietened by the loss of life, their fleet and even the planet of Genesis II. Of the original fleet of the UNSC, only a third of the impressive armada remained to slowly float away from the rampaging horde of the Thunder.

The blue holographic appeared on his large monitor quickly, her head bowed as she recalculated the statistic and formulated a resulting statement, "The city of New Hemisphere has been burned to the ground sir, no known survivors from the surface have successfully made it to safety."

Ace almost swore at the large assault carriers orbiting Genesis II, despite his efforts to both save pedestrians and receive the ONI data; his soldiers and objectives had been blown away before he could even formulate a proper plan.  
"What about Gold Team, status?" He quickly spoke again, trying to glimpse a flicker of good news from the bombardment of death and destruction; if he knew anything, then these Spartan IV's would definitely not fall to the might of Storm.

"A single Pelican is approaching our position with the remaining members of ODST detachment 981 as well as four healthy Spartan IV's" Athena continued to act morbid as she counted out the deaths in her head, "however my tracker on East has gone dark; I suspect he was trapped down there at the moment of the glassing."  
The Admiral turned his head back to his crew for a moment as the thought settled in to him, he had lost a Spartan down in that hell as well as countless marines; while sustaining and gaining nothing from the wrecked city or the covenant. He breathed loudly as he slowly admitted that the battle over Genesis II had really not gone to plan, and then he decided upon his new objective.

"We need to get the hell out of here, prepare slip-space jump to the nearest human colony" Ace spoke roughly, knowing that many of the captains under his command would not be pleased, but would have to follow his orders despite this.  
"Sir?" Athena questioned him roughly, although she had heard him perfectly; there was nothing that was said on this large shuttle that she could not process and receive.  
"Get slip-space generators online! We are outgunned and outmatched; we require more assistance from the forces of the UNSC, you know this Athena" the Admiral sighed as he shouted at the AI, knowing that she only wished to help.  
Athena looked down at her feet as she spoke "As always commander, slip-space generators are running online and readying for our retreat."

**Meanwhile  
**The heavy figment of stone hovered in the middle of the purple lit room, its forerunner symbols still heavily etched into its side. 'The Hidden Path' lay inside the symbols, hidden away from the peering eyes of the covenant Storm warriors that surrounded it.  
A mix of Sangheili and Jiralhanae fighters stood around the hovering stone tablet, they stared each other down and etched their taloned fingers towards the storm rifles and spikers that lay positioned either on their thighs or back holsters.

The prophet of Storm sat in his large hovering throne, peering straight at the symbols as he scratched his hairy chin; despite his furious rush to gather the 'hidden path' it seemed that no warriors or operators in his entire fleet knew how to decipher it properly.  
Finally the Harbinger spoke abruptly, his mandibles twisting around as he broke the silence and questioned his master, "It seems the gods didn't wish to let us gain access without first passing a final stage."  
"You may be correct" Hierarch pondered to himself, cataloguing all the information he knew in order to decipher this set of coordinates and discover his true goal.

"The human flagship" He spoke slowly, unravelling his plans slowly to the rest of the covenant members present.  
The Harbinger stepped in slowly, twitching his muscled arms roughly as he smashed his fist together, his mandibles flaring as he did so, "What do you wish me to do?"  
Storm turned the shrivel throne around, letting it balance him perfectly as it started to hover out of the room, one final voice commanding the entire Thunder fleet to make a move.  
"Send the Guardians."


	23. Chapter 23

"Hanger Bay C closing hatch"  
The large UNSC pelican landed heavily on the metallic floor, letting go of the half destroyed warthog and allowing it to smash into the floor behind it. Figurines quickly jumped out of the hovercraft vehicle, the two last ODST's and the four members of 'Gold Squad'.

North led his squad out of the hanger bay, letting silence emanate between them all over the traumatic events of losing such a valued team mate. The black and white Spartan IV's didn't walk with the two golden warriors however, both deciding individually to go to the armoury and test out more precision weaponry in order to continue the pumping of their blood and muscles.

Marines ran past the two parties of Spartan IV's, carrying assault rifles and preparing themselves for something important. West looked at them curiously, but decided not to mention or make a comment; the few seconds of East's last actions were still running through her mind and she couldn't get them out of her head.  
So she went to her private quarters, stripped her heavy golden Mjonlir armour of herself roughly and threw it against the wall in frustration. She then positioned herself straight in the middle of the room in a harmonious position, allowing the harsh scent of mud and blood to leave her system; allowing peace and complete humility to enter her mind and body. This technique had been patterned by the utopian monks of the olden ages of Earth, and had served magically to help her in dire situations of stress and depression.

North stood at her door frame, still completely armoured up but staring intently at her through his golden visor as she slowly reached up, breathed in and out very slowly and finally noticed him.  
"Doing your magical Buddha thing again?" He asked humorously, his voice strained against the combination of complete anger and a broken spirit, "Does that stuff even work?"

West turned to her side, uncomfortable with the revealing shirt that she wore in his unwanted presence before she replied, "It does for me, now do you mind clearing out North? This technique is only for the peace of mind nothing more."  
The large armoured man feinted shock and harm, walking into the room and laughing out of his visor crudely, "And what says I'm not here for peace of mind!?" he started to advance towards her, allowing her to feel underpowered.

West stood up sharply, standing up completely against the golden warrior and resting her knee straight below the fork in his legs before she continued calmly, "I know you're frustrated over East but you won't receive consolation when you're not asking for any."

North gulped loudly as he thought over what she said, and the position of power she had easily managed herself into, he took a breath and prepared to retort cynically with a sharp comment.  
But at that moment, both warriors; clad in armour or not, got indulged in red light and the harsh sound of a warning emergency siren blasting off. West's eyes boggled as she hurried to stick her armour back onto herself, not caring if North was watching her or not.

**Meanwhile**  
Gold bullets flew past the chest of the marine shock trooper, leaving him to yelp in fear as the particles almost cut through his armour and into his skin with ease. Another volley of spectacular flashes of light flew straight for him, leaving him almost mesmerised as they smashed into his lower legs and started deteriorating the particles that held his bone, tissue and muscle in place.  
The marine screamed as another object was thrown at him, this time a small triangular orange grenade that hovered two feet from the floor and instantly created a large sphere of light around the UNSC warrior. Lightning crackled from inside the circle as the marine started losing particles across his entire body until finally there was literally nothing left.

Lucifer watched horrified as the man was transformed into absolutely nothing, not even leaving armour or a conscious behind; then the Spartan IV immediately issued back into action and open fired on the invading forces.  
A huge triangular being stood in front of him, balancing his massive exoskeleton back frame on nimble legs, creating golden light that sparkled through the entire creature. Its small head was viciously slitted vertically and a large yellow blade was prodding from his left arm that matched the weapon in his right. It was a golden Promethean Knight, or better known as a "Guardian".

The creature screamed inhumanely, its body moving surprisingly quickly as it jumped closer and opened fire on the human forces in front of it with its large suppressor that literally speckled them with golden flashes of particle rounds.  
Another marine fell to the floor quickly, taken out with a brutal three burst shot from a second Guardian that had teleported straight to their location. The knight screeched while its hood slashed open, letting golden light seep out as a metallic alloy inner face screamed at the human enemies. It's left arm twisted sharply as it slashed downwards on another marine, successfully carving him in half; only for both half's to disappear in a flash of gold particle deterioration.

Lucifer fired full auto on the invading creatures, knowing that more would be appearing around the entire large shuttle of 'Fist of Judgement' very soon; and that he had to protect them at all costs. The nearest guardian's blue shielding sparked as a volley of gunfire caught it in the chest, leaving it completely undamaged as it teleported again.

The Black Spartan IV fired one more round as he realised his assailant had literally vanished into thin air, then suddenly got shoved straight into the wall to his right as the knight teleported next to him and responded via smashing him across the abdomen.  
Lucifer groaned as he looked up slowly, seeing his battle rifle turn into particles as the knight fired upon it; he attempted to raise his magnum but before he could even fire a round. The guardian was right over him, looking down at its prey and opening its vertical slots menacingly; the face inside hissed at him with the virtue of a creature very unlike man.  
And then the large orange blade on the creature's left arm twitched, as it swung forward; ready to decapitate the black human warrior.


	24. Chapter 24

"Their everywhere!" A marine shouted as his lower back got pulverised by a duel set of light particles, he fell to the floor in absolute agony as his nervous system started to shut down and his limbs ceased to operate. He attempted to crawl away from the situation but unfortunately didn't manage to even move his arms as a surprisingly small nimble triangular foot stepped down on the marine and crushed him until his spine completely gave way.

South roared at the guardian knight slashed its orange blade across the neck of the marine and completely pulverised him into nothing but atoms. Firing his stolen brute shot wildly, he managed to drop the shields of his enemy and even smash one round into its large chest. Golden particles rained down like blood as the grenade detonated harshly and successfully ripped the entire creature apart so it could transform into a collection of particles.

The White Spartan IV rushed forward to slaughter more of the invading promethean warriors, his bloodlust fuelled by the recent demise of a team-mate and the arrival of this enemy. He rushed behind and prepared to smash down the bayonet of his weapon against the exposed back of another knight. The blade cut straight through the Guardian's left arm and stabbed deeply into its side, a shrill shriek filled the air as it turned around and attempted to attack its assailant.  
Only for the Spartan to respond quickly, perfectly balancing himself on the tips of his toes as he smashed his fist down on the joint of the Promethean's leg, letting it topple over only for its small domed head to be literally ripped. More particles filled the air as the creature died quickly, not creating a sound as it ceased to exist entirely.

South quickly grabbed the brute shot from the floor and sprinted forwards again, going straight into the dark room where he knew more knights would be awaiting. A strange scene awaited him inside the hanger bay, he saw two large Guardian's attempting to hold the black Spartan known as 'Lucifer' to the ground; one of them was advancing forward quickly with the orange blade ready to slash violently.  
South grunted and rushed forward in order to save the fellow Spartan IV from death, with a quick and sudden move he managed to throw his brute shot directly at the first assaulting promethean, letting the blade directly cut through the back of the Guardian; the weapon now prodding from its huge triangular exoskeleton. Golden particles emanated from the large creature as it disappeared from view and existence.

The second knight screamed and rushed forward to stab its large blade straight into the black Spartan, willing to at least kill Lucifer before he would meet his own demise. But South barely even let the creature live for another moment, punching down at the joint of its left arm so the entire limb crunched forward in an opposite angle then its original purpose. Stabbing his right arm into the remains of the promethean's arm, the white Spartan ripped out the large orange blade and held it in his own hand.  
Then with a simple move, South jumped forward and slashed horizontally against the chest of the Guardian; letting it decompose as he assisted the black Spartan up from the floor. Lucifer looked up to see the large white Spartan IV wielding a huge orange blade in his right arm and almost smiled, if anyone suited that sort of weapon then the large warrior surely did.

"Thanks South, I was screwed without you" Lucifer coughed roughly, letting the white warrior help him up so they could stand together. Then finally he reached down and scooped up the large triangular weapon on the floor, forerunner fragments altered around the handle and slowly formed together to create a large long rifle that had been nicknamed the 'Light Rifle.'

**Meanwhile**  
Grenade's thundered through the main cockpit of the large shuttle 'Fist of Judgement', both forerunner and human explosions rocketed throughout the entire room roughly with shrapnel and fragments of particles.  
Robert stood at the cockpit doors with the last team-mate of his original team, Marko fired upon the incoming never-ending amount of promethean warriors with an Assault Rifle. The two ODST's stood with a large assortment of marines that were issued with the protection of the cockpit operators and the Admiral in question.

As soon as the Guardian's had assaulted the primary shuttle 'Fist of Judgement', the Admiral had decreed an order that all frigate's stay out of any blast radius if their nuclear generator was indeed corrupted, then he had ordered all personal to prepare the pelicans for retreat as well as grabbed the AI unit from the ship's hull and prepared to leave as well.  
Unfortunately the door was currently barricaded by an incoming wave of promethean knights, which continued the fire-fight of the entire vessel to travel even to the Capitan's cockpit.

"There's too many of them!" Marko shouted out in agony as a volley of particle rounds smashed into his chest piece, luckily not cutting through and affecting flesh but very close.  
The Admiral yelled from his position at the back, firing a M9 magnum at any promethean warrior he could find, "Just keep firing! Reinforcements are bound to come in soon!"

Just at that moment, a huge golden promethean warrior instantly teleported straight behind the commanding Admiral; it's mass standing straight over Ace as it fired its primary weapon straight at the back of the marines who had not noticed it. The knight's small secondary arms quickly grabbed onto the neck of the Admiral in a lunging move as the huge Incineration Cannon in his right arm fired a large volley of red volcanic rounds of flamed particles.  
A huge explosion rocketed right in the middle of the squad of marines, completely obliterating most of the warriors in the first round of destructive and explosive power of the forerunner cannon. Then as if that wasn't enough, a second volley erupted out of the first and smashed down again to splash against the final surviving humans; turning them into simple fragments and particles.  
Robert looked up from the destructive and raw power of the incineration cannon, looked to his right and realised that only Marko and he had really survived; letting the invading Prometheans easily walk up and into the room.

The ODST private watched in complete hopeless agony as he saw the knight look directly down at his fallen comrade and the last member of his squad, Marko simply looked up through his visor at the huge being and attempted to pull out his K – Bar knife. The promethean snarled and let its visor split open, golden particles falling down like a river to rain down on the fallen Hell-Jumper.  
And then it raised its right arm, revealing a huge orange Scattershot in its taloned grip; then without warning it aimed and fired right at Marko's face; turning him into particle dust within seconds.  
Robert couldn't believe what had just happened, at that precise moment; he had just become the last ODST of his entire squad, everyone close to him had been murdered and brutally killed by the Thunder in some way or fashion.

And as he looked back to the admiral, he caught a simple glimpse of Ace being yanked to the side by a huge golden Promethean with a hovering circle disk in front of its face; and then suddenly, they both teleported out of known position and existence.  
And on complete queue, as if the Guardian's knew exactly what they were doing and were communally in complete contact; all of the invading Promethean knights teleported out of the current location and disappeared right any known location of the Fist of Judgement.  
They had got what they had come for.


	25. Chapter 25

The dark Spartan IV stood at the door of the hanger bay, slanting his visor down to the ground as he stared at the gold particles that flowed through the gravitational push of the Shuttle, 'Fist of Judgement.' No bodies or marines had been pulled into the recovery wing as after they had been shot by the forerunner weaponry; they had disappeared in a splatter of particles.  
As he dropped the long orange rifle that was held in his hand, he touched his visor and wiped away a smidge of red blood that lay across it; how the liquid got there, he would never know.

"Spartan Lucifer, call in soldier!" A sharp female voice ripped across his com layout and commanded his attention, he acknowledged the officer immediately and awaited for further instructions; he clenched his heavy Mjonlir gloves as he recognised the familiar tone of Lieutenant Drafter.  
"The Fist of Judgement is dead in the water Lucifer; I can't get any contact with the operators or Admiral" Drafter spoke slowly, unclear on the current situation.  
Lucifer replied in kind, "Gone, there's only me and a couple left." He breathed loudly on the radio, letting his slow anxiety get the better of him. The Spartan IV was unclear on how many of the original 'gold squad' had survived; the man count of the entire ship was still unknown to him.  
"Spartan, a squad of phantoms are heading straight for your vessel" Drafter spoke hurriedly, her tone revealing she was nervous about the loss of another soldier in her command.  
Lucifer sighed and picked the light rifle straight up from the floor again, he armed it with golden light quickly and walked towards the hanger bay slowly. As he aimed the rifle in his arms, the nearby doors of the hanger bay burst open as an ODST ran straight forward.

Both figures aimed their rifles at each other; the hell-jumper unleashed a couple of rounds but only had them bounce of the Spartan IV golden shields. Lucifer lowered his rifle as he noticed the attacker was indeed his ally.  
Robert immediately raised his arms as he realised what he had done wrong, "Sorry about that Spartan…so do you really have a plan on how where getting out of here?"  
Lucifer growled at the ODST's lack of realisation before he was shot, then deciding to check out any operational vehicles in the bay. All of the pelicans had been crippled after the heavy shootout unfortunately, leaving them with only one choice.

"All UNSC forces on this frequency channel of the Fist of Judgement" Lucifer suddenly sprang into action, "I want any survivors to meet at the hanger bay C pronto."  
Robert cocked his head, confused with what the Spartan was doing before he asked, "What's your plan here Lucifer."  
The Black Spartan IV smiled as the large phantom smashed through the window of the hanger bay and started offloading storm warriors; he raised the light rifle and fired a volley of golden particle rounds at the unwary collection of shielded blue Sangheili and small green Unggoy, until he spoke, "We're stealing that bird."

**Meanwhile**  
"Bring him closer, I want to look upon those who are doomed to fail." The voice commanded the nearby operators to drag the human prisoner into the presence of the hovering throne and San Shyuum that sat upon it.  
Admiral 'Ace' Osborn struggled to twist his head and look up into the peering eyes of the Prophet, the human attempted to make a move against such a villainous creature but simply couldn't; his injuries and exhaustion had finally beat him.  
"Such a fragile being" Hierarch laughed at the human, enjoying the power he had over this one enemy he had in his thrall, "It is truly a wonder how you have held of the oncoming Thunder for so long…but no longer."

"What the hell do you want from me?!" Ace shouted out the last of his strength, completely starting to fall forward in agony as his chest wound started to take its toll on the Admiral.  
The prophet lowered its large head down, letting its breath roll over the helpless human as it finally resoluted, "It is not you I want, it is the encyclical you carry that will reveal the hidden path to us."  
"The what?" Ace questioned slowly, completely unsure on what the Hierarch was talking about in an honest batch of ignorance.

A roar emanated from a force behind the human, resulting in a huge spiky fist smashing straight into the back of the Admiral roughly so he fell roughly to the floor. Ace screamed as a goblet of blood flew out of his mouth and he felt his spine vertebrae shift immediately to the right.  
The Harbinger stood over the fallen human angrily, reaching down and grabbing a fallen circular data slot that had tumbled out of the Admiral's pocket, "The encyclical is safe Hierarch."  
Storm smiled at the brutal resolution and turned his throne around to face the stars as he rumbled out slowly, "Let the AI suffer like its masters and kill the human filth."


	26. Chapter 26 : The Discovery

The thin flash of golden light splashed through the atmospherically and destroyed the blue exoskeleton of the Sangheili warrior, letting a torrent of purple blood splash down the elite's armour and fall to the ground. Two more storm warriors rushed forward to cover the fallen tracks of their leader, only for their skulls to be splattered apart via a rush of golden particle light.

As the small spectacle of covenant aliens were blown apart quickly with a violent passion, the Sangheili piloting the Phantom panicked and started to steer the large purple vehicle away from its parked position so it could quickly leave. An invisible figure sprinted straight for the phantom without earning detection from the pilot quickly, the soft thump of metal hitting metal sounded throughout the entire hanger as the Spartan landed inside the hovering vehicle.  
Lucifer deactivated his invisibility quickly as he grabbed the golden light rifle from his back holster and started creeping slowly up to the piloting Elite. He could hear the sound of the other members of 'Gold Squad' firing at the remains of the invading covenant, then quickly he unsheathed his K-Bar knife and prepared to stab the Sangheili right through the neck.

A torrent of spilling purple blood filled the cabin as the corpse was thrown overboard, then as Lucifer sat down at the piloting chairs he spoke into his shared com, "Climb aboard."  
The outside Spartan IV's and ODST quickly clambered onto the purple floating vehicle, cocking their weaponry and seating themselves comfortably inside the Phantom.

"Punch it!" North shouted from his position in the vehicle, he wasn't impressed with the movement they were forced to withhold; but he had been overridden with the orders of Lieutenant Drafter on this matter.  
Lucifer didn't need to be told twice, letting his golden HUD translation unit decipher the high tech operational value of the phantom so he could use it properly. The vehicle increased speed in a hurry, letting the methane gases hover the entire phantom until it left through the hanger bay doors.

The Black Spartan IV controlled the hovercraft vehicle surprisingly well for someone who had never touched such a different vehicle; despite this, its handling wasn't much different from the use of a UNSC pelican. He turned the phantom sharply to the right, heading straight for the hundreds of Corvette and Assault Carrier ships that formed the 'Thunder.'  
"Lucifer what the hell are you doing!" North shouted from behind in the cockpit, "We have direct orders to take us back to the cruiser 'Red Dusk!"  
The Black Spartan didn't reply, simply shutting the cockpit doors from the main frame of the Phantom, a complete lack of emotion etched his face as he accelerated towards the fleet of Thunder fiercely.

His radio flickered on with a red beeper, "Spartan where the hell are you going!" Lieutenant Drafter's voice ripped through his HUD, almost deafening him until finally he switched it of completely and ignored it.  
A quitter voice came onto his communications; it was the soft tone of the ODST named 'Robert' who simply asked, "What are you up to?"

Lucifer breathed in heavily as he controlled the phantom across the fleet of the Thunder, letting the enemy ships accept the carrier vessel as one of their own; he travelled ferociously quick against the tide of shuttles until he found himself in the presence of the largest one. The Supreme Carrier 'Infamous Fury' lay straight in the middle of the entire fleet, impressively outsizing and outgunning almost every other ship combined in the entire Thunder.  
And then he spoke slowly, "I'm going to finish this, once and for all."

**Meanwhile**  
"Incorruptible data surge; 6" Athena's voice sounded through the entire purple cockpit, her tone was strangely corrupted and flawed, her usual blue simulation was mixing in with random spikes of red light. The smart AI figure kneeled in pain as another surge of red light sparked through her entire data core. Even the small circular AI chip, that had been screwed tightly into the data covenant terminal, was starting to vibrate violently as the data unit suffered slowly through the bombardment of covenant propaganda and torture.

The Prophet of Storm watched as the covenant terminal slowly filled the human AI with the true religious beliefs of the Thunder, Athena screamed as another inevitable surge of sacrilegious propaganda filled her memory banks.

"Heresy!" the AI squealed wildly, her own vocabulary being over ridden with the natural tongue and speech of the Storm covenant, "No! I will not…"  
As the smart artificial unit started to shade completely in a red light and screaming wildly, the Hierarch looked down and grabbed the data cord; intensifying the powerful surge of the covenant military propaganda.  
"Tell me the coordinates of the Hidden path" He spoke slowly, letting his voice drawl over the screaming sound of the AI's torture. Athena couldn't respond for a long while, instead relying on silence to save herself from the never-ending surge.

"Of course I will O Excellency…NO!" The AI screamed loudly, battling the red explosion of lightning that sparked through her lower chest.  
The Hierarch grabbed onto the data unit again with two spindly fingers, letting the torture intensify to the point that the AI's screams turned into a shrill high beam that could barely even be describable from words or noise. Suddenly he switched of the surge of power, letting the smart Artificial Unit stop and breathe heavily in and out as the new set of information filled straight into the data core of Athena.  
"I ask again" The prophet spoke one last time, "Give me the coordinates of the hidden path encyclical." Two large arms crossed over the San Shyuum in a crossed position, almost three years of planning had led up to this moment.

The AI paused for a moment, the blue light being completely corrupted over with the crimson light that patterned the entire figure.  
Then finally Athena spoke, "Yes O Excellency, the coordinates sketched on this graph show the gamma quadrant of sector 38 as the known recipient of the 'Hidden Path"  
An extra set of constellations all circling around a huge metallic sphere that had appeared heavily to the left of the entire forerunner map structure. The sphere was rotating on its own, revealing its orbit around two large crimson suns and a large moon.

The prophet breathed outloud in absolute ecstasy as he witnessed the known location of the 'hidden path.' Its lips parted as it breathed again, "It is time to meet the gods."


	27. Chapter 27

"I swear to god, do you covenant bastards even eat proper food!" The one armed prisoner threw a goblet of uncooked meat at the floor in complete disgust, spitting out a volley of disgraceful liquid that souped down under the energy barriers.

"Quiet human!" a Sangheili warrior roared at him whilst waving its Storm rifle and threateningly glaring at the crippled Spartan warrior.  
Gabriel bit his lip in disgust; he had been imprisoned in this new and smaller block via heavy plasma barricades and the heavy battalion of Storm Elite's that stood guard for almost twenty four hours now. After the Hierarch had demanded that the 'demon' be placed in heavy quarantine; the elite shipmaster immediately had doubled the guard and made sure that Gabriel had no chance to escape via death or physical freedom.

Over this time, the Spartan had been underfed and lacked of basic human rights; leaving him bruised and bleeding in extreme cases that almost left the cripple as a delusional man. Nevertheless, the Spartan IV knew that it was his case to die in this situation; at least he hadn't given any information to the enemy or slipped up with anything the Thunder would want.  
"The hidden path seems to be growing ever closer brother" One of the guarding blue Sangheili warriors spoke with a friendly accent, despite the heavy armour and vicious mandibles.  
"Not in front of the prisoner!" The second elite growled angrily, his heavily muscled reptilian arm wielding a simple Needler in one set of talons.

Suddenly the first elite buckled down and smashed heavily to the floor, as if it were hit by some form of invisible force; the storm rifle fell to the floor violently firing a burst of superheated rounds into the wall. The second Sangheili roared at the sight of his fallen brethren and immediately fired a round of needles into the approximate location of their assailant.  
Gabriel stood up at as soon as the first elite had fallen down to the ground, he cocked his head to the side in confusion as the second elite's back got smashed until he to fell down to the cold metallic floorboards. It was clear that an invisible force had done the deed, and the only ally that the crippled Spartan ever knew that had that sort of equipment, but no it really couldn't be.

"Lucifer?" Gabriel asked slowly, cocking a fist with his one usable arm as the invisible figure refused to reveal himself. This was confusing; if the black Spartan IV had come to rescue him then he should have showed himself by now.  
"The name of a demon? I guess it is close enough." The voice replied, its user unknown but sounding rather two powerful to be the tone of the black Spartan. A flash of blue light flickered down as the Sangheili official decloaked his active camouflage successfully and revealed himself.

A heavy and ornate mesh of black battle armour revealed themselves to be protecting the large dark Sangheili nemesis that stood straight over the blue Spartan IV. It was the doom of mankind, the hand of the storm; the Harbinger.

Gabriel roared in anger, rushing forward and preparing to smash a fist down at the large black elite; he knew that his lie expectancy would be shortened with this move but deemed it unworthy in contrast to the revenge he needed on the Harbinger. The plasma bars separated him from his enemy, letting the Harbinger chuckle at the sight of the one armed man try to reach through and grab at him.  
Finally the Spartan yelled out, "What the hell are you doing here? Come to finally finish me off?" he screamed at the motionless black elite, allowing the pent up rage of being cooped up in a cage for the last day to finally be released.

"I am here to release you demon, make your move." The Harbinger replied slowly, barely caring as he unlatched the plasma coils that would let the Spartan IV finally leave his energy coiled imprisonment.  
Gabriel started walking out of the room, grabbing the covenant Needler from the cold motionless ground and moved out of the hanger bay door; carefully avoiding the unconscious elite guards and stepping out of the prison.

He looked back and narrowed his eyes at the large black elite who still stood motionless at the plasma gate controls, "Why are you doing this? So I can survive and make a worthy battle for you again?!" Gabriel started speaking in a calm voice, until the anger overrode him and almost made him fire the Needler at the elite.  
The Harbinger stared down at the crippled man, watched over the armless chest piece that was covered in red blood, destroyed circuits and plasma burns before he parted his huge metal covered and reinforced mandibles, "I am following orders Demon, nothing more and nothing less."

**Meanwhile**  
Admiral Osborn didn't complain as he was thrown straight into the plasma protected pen, the Jiralhanae guards shoving his entire body into the cage before switching the doors closed. Ace gritted his teeth in frustration as he tried to rise up from the cold floor; however the pain and limitation of his spine prevented any movement, leaving the Admiral to scream out in pain as his damaged vertebrae refused to move.

A squawk responded to his irritating noise, three pairs of bulging eyes suddenly appeared out of the dark chasm of the cage; letting the Admiral only guess about what was spying and creeping towards him nervously. Ace groaned and tried to turn around, so he could at least protect himself from any attack that these new aliens would do to him.

A trio of bird like creature's quickly sprinted out of the dark corner of the room, revealing themselves to be large and scrawny wild Jackals, clad in simple loin cloths and covered in battle wounds and scars. One of the aliens rushed forward, stamping a long taloned foot on the back of the human victim.  
Ace screamed out in pain as the talons sank straight into his spine, another set of pincer like claws slashing at him from the side and literally ripping his outer intestine out so it spilled against the cold merciless floor. A sharp pain grabbed the admiral from two sides of either corner of his head, the pincer grab lifting his entire head upwards.

The Admiral screamed as he realised his head was literally inside the jaws of the Jackal, his continuous sound simply escalated as the Kig-Yar started to bite down on the humans head; the only thing stopping from yelling further was a second jackal that continue to rush forward and sink its long fanged teeth into the exposed neck of the human fleet master.  
Admiral 'Ace' Osborn lay on his stomach throughout the entire process, his life source being ripped away by the marauding swarm of Jackals; and his lack of existence only being witnessed by a pair of Jiralhanae guards.


	28. Chapter 28

"This is an act of insubordination, I hope you remember that when you die in there" North's harsh tone cut over the black Spartan's intercom. His voice was heavy with dread but the truth weighed down on the piloting warrior, his life expectancy was indeed being cut short with this suicide run to save his friend and finish the fight.

The low descending phantom slowly hovered into the open hanger bay of the massive covenant Supreme Carrier, the purple shields barely scraping around its own vehicle. Storm Kig-Yar and Unggoy positioned themselves around the landing vehicle quickly, squawking and chittering nervously to themselves as the doors started to open and the aliens awaited for their hierarchal leaders.  
Lucifer breathed in deeply as a flashing code of red lights appeared on the ships cockpit, he sighed and cocked the stolen Light Rifle in his arms; activating its orange light to shine through the long weapon. He stepped out and looked down at the seated warriors in front of him, despite the fact that they despised his plan; they hadn't excessively tried to stop him.

"Are you with me or not?" The Black Spartan IV asked the slowly, peering out of the phantom door so he could see the horde of covenant warriors awaiting him on the other side.  
"No frecking way you nutcase, as soon as you clear out I'm bringing this bird and my squad back home!" North shouted back at him, crossing his fists closely as he turned his head away and refused all forms of eye contact with the other Spartan's.

West stared at the commanding officer in disbelief, then quickly she stood up and stretched out her long legs encased in armour as she grabbed the Assault Rifle from her back, "I'm with you Lucifer, let's go find your friend."  
South grumbled with her, unbalancing the phantom as he stood and cracked his knuckles into each other; a familiar and friendly growl emanated from his solid golden visor as he grabbed the brute shot from the floor and cocked it firmly.  
The commanding golden Spartan looked hesitant as he was outnumbered and slowly silently felt himself become peer pressured into helping out, finally he sighed and spoke, "I'll hold this bird until you get back, but don't make me wait to long."

"Thank you North" West swiped her finger across her visor, the old fashioned way of Spartan's to reveal they were pleased with each other. She reputed her heavy plates of armour swiftly and activated her energy shields.  
Lucifer almost smiled as well as he saw the squad had finally started to work together, then he turned over and looked for the familiar visor of the one ODST called 'Robert'. However as he stared around the cockpit he saw that the Hell-Jumper had disappeared.

A familiar sound of gunfire sounded throughout the entire hanger bay, grunts squealed as luminous blotches of blue blood erupted out of their small green chest plates via the barrage of silenced SMG rounds. The ODST hadn't waited for approval; he had jumped right into the hanger bay and used the silence to drop a squad of Unggoy.  
"Let's move Spartans!" West yelled, leaping out of the phantom and taking control of the situation, she landed heavily on the purple floor of the hanger bay and rushed forward as she pulled the trigger heavily on her assault rifle.

**Meanwhile**  
He fell heavily against the floor railings, blood and sweat dropping down from his forehead as his entire body landed on the purple ground. He moaned once, gripping the railings with his one usable arm before he managed to lift himself up and walked up through massive corridor that encased him inside the Supreme Carrier.  
Gabriel spat out a goblet of blood as he almost fell again, leaning up against the wall with his arm to protect himself. A squad of covenant Unggoy led by one single Sangheili major sprinted past the corridor to his left, barely paying any notice or attention to the injured Spartan IV.

It seemed that these storm warriors were rushing of to get ready for something, and Gabriel had heard explosions and the sound of plasma/gunfire bouncing along one of the primary hanger bays; if a rescue team had finally come then it was his true opportunity to finally get of this wretched ship and be free of the Covenant once and for all.  
And so the crippled warrior stumbled forward, taking everything a step at a time as he followed the rushing storm aliens to his rescue.


	29. Chapter 29

"Push them back!" The Golden Spartan IV roared to her team-mates furiously as she fired her M8 assault rifle at the never-ending torrent of covenant warriors continued to fire upon her large barrier shields. West stifled back as her shields completely depleted under the unstoppable and unpreventable force of the plasma burns and Needler's. Throwing a UNSC grenade at the nearby plasma coil's, the Spartan jumped to the side and let the huge explosion of plasma and fire erupt over the forces of Storm; letting them either be flung by the power, set on fire or simply blew apart in the raw destructive strength.

The female warrior breathed out in relief as the forces of the covenant remained lying down without any force of life or risk to fire weaponry upon her. As she looked back she could see the two other Spartan IV's as well as the one ODST that had come to assist them.  
Another squad of Unggoy and Elite's got cut down quickly with overlapping fields of fire; barely managing to fire their plasma based projectile weaponry. Kig–Yar sniper's stood over the higher peaks of the hanger bay, firing their beam rifles down at the crouching invading humans.

An invisible force slowly moved behind them, the snick of a knife sounded around the Jackal scout's and continued as the blade was stuck straight into the back of the spine of the first sniper. The creature squawked in pain and fear as it fell right back to the door, sending the knife straight up through its chest as it was forced upwards by the impact of the floor. The second Jackal screamed as the impact of purple blood splashed all over its bird like arms, it turned around quickly to face its assailant only for a black spiked fist to smash into its neck and literally send it flying of the railings of the hanger bay.

Lucifer deactivated his active camouflage as the final creature fell to the floor in a puff of feathers and blood; finally he swung under and landed straight in front of his squad. He nodded to North, who immediately proceeded to stay back inside the phantom, and then rushed forward through the corridor in order to find his friend.

**Meanwhile**  
Gabriel's eyes looped low as he struggled to stay conscious, the lust for sleep and prison-less sleep was simply too good to pass up and he felt as if he needed to do it. The blue Spartan IV bit his lip in order to keep himself partially awake, letting cool red blood mix in with the dry crackled liquid that was already etched all across his pale and weathered face.  
The warrior continued to stumble on through the endless maze of purple corridors, he knew that he was going in the right direction but was unsure on how exactly he would get their while fighting his wounds and the urge to sleep on the inside.

Gabriel continued to crawl out of the corridor, turning his head to the left just in time to see a battalion of Sangheili and Unggoy run up the line and literally smash into the Spartan IV, knocking him over and creating a squabble of bodies on the floor. The crippled man immediately felt the familiar adrenaline of the 'kill or be kill' attitude that had always held him in battle; with the vigour of an enraged man, the Spartan smashed his fist across and snapped a grunt neck while knocking one backwards.

He stood up slowly, looking up at the Sangheili major in front of him that raised its Storm rifle and flared its mandibles in anger; Gabriel acted extremely quickly, flipping down and dodging the rounds while grabbing onto the methane tank of the nearest downed grunt and throwing it straight towards the crimson warrior.  
The green armour piece smashed head on the elite, sending methane gases everywhere as the backpack exploded. A roar emanated as the creature clutched its face, only for it to look up and become impaled on three needles that skewered into its skull, leaving purple blood splattered across the wall.

A few grunts aimed their rifles at the armless Spartan quickly as they saw their leader fall, his brain bloody and shot to hell. Gabriel simply aimed the Needler one armed right back at them, breathing heavily and preparing to fire if the standoff did not end in a way he wished. The Unggoy looked at each other nervously, then at the large image in front of them; the blood stained and absolutely hell-bitten look of the Spartan getting across to them in an element of fear. They sprinted away quickly as the warrior took one step forward; small puffs of methane gas entered the air as they fled the scene in complete self-preservation.

Gabriel breathed loudly as he started to fall down to the floor, throwing the methane tank had taken out the last remainder of his strength; leaving him completely vulnerable to whatever force would come and kill him.  
Soon enough a figure sprinted towards him, aiming a rifle at the fallen Spartan IV and preparing to fire upon him; not that the collapsed warrior really cared, in his opinion: he really was done for this life as he was truly to tired and pained to go on.

"Hey Spartan! You've gotta get up." An unfamiliar voice broke through his veil of disarray, it was the sound of an amplified female human; possibly another Spartan IV warrior.  
Gabriel opened his eyes to the sight of a golden warrior kneeling over him with an assault rifle clearly outlined on her back and two arms ready to lift him up and help him out. He nodded once as she started to lift him from the floor, lifting him was something that most men and women never could really do; but another Spartan IV was definitely powerful enough to do it.

Suddenly a flash of blue plasma erupted from behind the golden female Spartan IV, a snarl echoed through the chamber as the invisible force took a heavy step closer, the energy blade held tightly in its hidden right taloned hand. This was only seen by Gabriel and not by the more prepared and armed reinforced warrior; and so he was required to action, completely running on adrenaline and the will to help this newcomer.

And so he ripped of the assault rifle from her heavily magnetised holster and opened fire on the hidden Sangheili warrior behind her. Blue shielding dropped to the floor almost like liquid as the Spec Ops elite screamed and rushed forward, still holding onto the energy sword and ready to swing and decapitate the golden warrior.  
But the Female rushed faster, moving to the side and ducking under the heavy swing of the blade and jumping up to knee the creature straight in the mandibles. A stifled scream snarled out as the Mjonlir armour slammed into his head; however this only seemed to aggravate the elite as it slashed again at the human.

The golden Spartan IV reacted immediately agilely, dropping down to a athletic crouch and punching quickly at the abdomen of the assailant, letting it fall to its knees and attempt to rise. The Spec Ops elite raised its head quickly, looking around to grab at the fallen handle; only for its neck to be placed in a position of weakness. The Spartan quickly rammed her knees together around the tough jugular of the elite, pinning it in place perfectly as she slowly cocked her magnum and placed it up against the creature's forehead.

"No honour!" The elite growled as he stared the magnum down, knowing that his life was placed between the strength of the female Spartan's legs.  
"Your right" The Spartan replied, instead deciding to sharply rip her thigh to the side; snapping the elite's neck and spine in one simple move.  
Gabriel watched as the female warrior stood up from the downed elite and helped the crippled Spartan IV up from the floor so he could slowly walk alongside her; she breathed heavily as she carried the warrior but not a complaint was made.

"Thank you so much" The blue Spartan IV managed to moan as he fell into exhaustion and almost fell to the floor again, "Thank god you got here."  
"Don't thank me or god soldier" West replied sharply, "Thank Lucifer"


	30. Chapter 30 : To be continued

He stood alone against the reoccurring and overlapping horde of Storm covenant warriors, the DMR in his arms firing accurate and deadly shots that lowered the body count of the oncoming enemy assailants. A mix of blood hues splattered across the purple hanger bay as the large rounds impacted within the skulls and vital points of the invading Unggoy, Kig-Yar and Sangheili races.  
North shouted outloud as two piercing green particles smashed the remains of his shielding and encased into his lower chest, letting a trickle of blood fall down to the floor; but still he stayed at his post and fired his rifle resistantly at the armada of covenant.

But the aliens just kept coming at him, there was an endless number of them that continued to show up and fire upon him; barely giving him time to recharge his shields as he attempted to fire back. As he watched, another door opened to reveal a pair of large green burly Mgalekgolo 'Hunters' that immediately proceeded to fire a volley of green fuel cannon shots; the two rods of lime fire flying through the thick containment airfield until they smashed into the parked Phantom's side in a sparkled explosion of plasma and fire.  
"Our bird is taking heavy fire, get your arses back here!" North shouted into his communications as he fired a last volley of rounds at the hunters, trying to gain their attention but only managing to let them raise their thick shields and rebound the rounds.

"Affirmative" West replied shortly, breathless and tired but still moving and breathing, before long the golden Spartan IV herself appeared out of the one of the doors; running straight for the phantom with an injured and half defiled man under her wing. The two hunters growled together and fired another volley of lime green rods, only for them to miss dramatically as the female Spartan IV rushed to clamber aboard the phantom.  
An explosion rocketed from behind the hunters, creating a large eruption of smoke, flames and orange blood that reeked out of the pressure and weak points of the Mgalekgolo titans. As one of the gigantic monsters fell to the ground, the other turned around completely and faced off against the large white Spartan IV who stood his ground against it.

South clenched his fist as he dropped the USNC rocket launcher onto the ground; he then gestured to the ODST rookie to retreat back to the phantom and then walked straight up to face off against the huge hunter. Robert hurried to rush back to the parked vehicle, stepping on and seating himself in the seat behind North who was currently seated in the cockpit.  
The large white Spartan IV took a deep breath in as he stared at the large green triangular head piece of the Mgalekgolo 'Hunter', both of the entities roared at each other in some form of physical intimidation, letting their own prescience attempt to deter the other creature to flee.  
South grumbled again, stepping forward once more time so he could almost touch the hunter; then the large warrior roared in a form of animalistic fury, sending the hunter into a strange fit of fear and subservience. Almost unbelievably, the singular titan like alien started backing away from the white warrior; leaving the battle and successfully fleeing the scene.

"I guess only South really could" North mumbled to himself in disarray as the bulkish white Spartan clambered aboard the phantom, "West! Give me status on his condition!"  
The female Spartan looked over the crippled form of Gabriel, noticing how many bruises and cuts completely aligned his entire body before she commented, "He's unconscious but breathing, we need to get him to a medical wing as soon as possible."  
"Then let's get moving" North spoke roughly, activating the phantom's hovering gases until it started vibrating and lifted itself up from the floor. A roar of protest issued from the back of the vehicle as the other squad mates discovered what he was doing.

"What the hell North! Lucifer is still out there!" West roared in anger at him, grabbing the controls of his golden gloves and attempting to separate the commander from the piloting cockpit.  
North shook her off and grabbed control of the entire vessel again as he roared, "I have a priority to take care of my squad and I say that we need to leave now! Or have you forgotten how to take orders?!" he pushed West of himself, trying to steer the vehicle away.  
South grumbled loudly, walking forward and grabbing the commanding Spartan IV with one fist and dragging him away from the controller in one simple move and smashing him against the wall of the phantom. The white warrior growled menacingly at North, as if he was simply wishing for the commander to make a wrong decision.

Suddenly a volley of heavy plasma shots hit the side of the Phantom, successfully smashing it to the side and causing the occupants inside to be thrown into disarray. North quickly stumbled up to his feet as the rest of his squad fell to the floor, then with the speed of a rattlesnake he pulled out a UNSC magnum from his side and aimed it straight at the visor of West. She freezed in place as the pistol was stuck right at her, it was so heavily placed on her forehead that it would easily skip the energy barriers and impale her straight in the face.  
"We're leaving, right now" North spoke evenly, a scent of hysteria hitting into his voice as he readjusted his grip on the pistol.

West remained silent for a moment, simply staring down her commanding officer with a ridged and fiery anger; only moving when another volley of plasma hit the vehicle from the side, "South, stand down" She finally spoke. The big white Spartan IV stood dumbstruck by the turn of events, than finally he aimed his golden visor in the face of his commander, growling with pure hatred as he sat down and followed orders.  
North nodded to both of them, turning back to the phantom cockpit and starting to enter into it in order to flee the large Supreme Carrier. A voice called out to him, it was the quiet but still angered tone of the ODST.

"You really are something else you know that" Robert shook his head in disgust, "I can't see the difference between fuckers like you and the covenant."  
The commanding golden Spartan IV sighed to himself once, cracking his knuckles as he spun around and smashed his fist right into the visor of the Hell-Jumper; sending Robert flying headfirst into the interior wall of the vehicle with a solid crack.

**Meanwhile**  
The phantom immediately picked up speed, not hesitating to remain behind as it thundered inside the hanger bay and left through the purple shielding with a quick resolution. Covenant warriors continued to fire upon it until it disappeared completely from view, unfortunately another warrior had noticed this vehicle's disparture with a slow resounding sadness.  
Lucifer stood at the doorway straight into the hanger, watching the phantom leave without comment or means to call upon it; he knew that North had left him behind due to the spite between them, but knowing that would not help him now.

The Storm covenant had noticed him without much delay, but had not fired upon him surprisingly; instead they slowly started to surround him with the never-ending hordes of Sangheili, Unggoy and Kig-Yar. As the Black Spartan IV watched curiously, a huge dark figure detached itself from the circle of Storm and faced against him alone. The nemesis grabbed a large handle from its back holster and activated it slowly to create a large blade that became the 'energy reaper.'  
It was the bane of mankind.  
The hand of the Storm.  
The Harbinger.

Lucifer growled outloud as he grabbed the energy sword he had holstered from a spec ops elite and activated it roughly, letting the plasma curve around into a blade that sparkled and hissed at every move. Then he took a step forward and twirled the sword around himself, letting it sizzle with reminiscant's of smoke and an aurora of blue energy.

"Come warrior, fulfil your ever-wanted passion in combat" The Harbinger spoke calmly, completely calculating his heavy foot-steps and positioning as he started swinging the reaper forwards an backwards in an off putting symmetrical movement.  
"Do you remember me Harbinger? This time you'll be leaving with a scar." Lucifer spoke confidently as he recalled the last interaction he had had with this large black elite, it had resulted in the Spartan being cut across the face brutally.  
"A lot of talking for prey, I thought your actions would speak for you." Harbinger replied slowly as he assessed his opponent up and down, twitching his mandibles in anticipation as his opponent took the first lunge and smashed their plasma weaponry together.

Flashes of lightning and energy arced the entire purple floorboards of the covenant ship as the two black armoured figures slashed at each other, back and forth they parried with a vigorous hate and will to slaughter all that stood in their way. Lucifer jumped backwards as the elite kept on pushing him backwards with the quick succession of plasma swings, a torrent of energy spilling onto the floor as they clashed once again.  
The black Spartan IV jumped backwards as his chest armour piece was slashed across violently by the opposing Sangheili nemesis; he stumbled to his knees in shock but quickly asserted himself up to dodge another swing. As the Harbinger swung once more, leaving the human of balanced; he twisted is entire body around in a quick move and slammed his thick twin boot into the Spartan's chest so he would fall backwards once again.

The covenant surrounding them started to cheer as Lucifer fell to the floor once again, taking in deep breaths the warrior slowly started to get up from the floor to stand up once again. The Harbinger stood waiting for him whilst twirling his energy reaper; he believed in the notion of a fair fight and only prepared to swing again when the Spartan IV was well and ready.  
Lucifer growled at the welt in his chest and activated his active camouflage unit swiftly so his entire state of being disappeared in the bending of light and invisibility armour ability. He switched of his energy sword to completely blend himself from his assailant, although he knew that escaping was futile; being surrounded by the covenant would allow is immediate detection, but he could sneak around and slash at the unwary Sangheili.

"I can smell your stench!" Harbinger snorted loudly, allowing his heavy nostrils take in the scent of his enemy even if his eyes could not.  
An energy sword cackled from the Sangheili's left, revealing the user as he swung his blade one more time as quickly as any warrior ever could descend a sword onto an enemy's neck. The curve of light sliced down furiously, managing to knick the armour of his enemy as the Harbinger rolled out of harm's way with nothing but a scratch.  
Both figures dropped back to their own respective spaces quickly; the dark symmetrical image of the Spartan IV wielding the energy sword and the Harbinger with his Energy reaper circling each other and evaluating their next move perfectly.

And then they struck.

Both blades sliced down roughly against each other, creating a massive conundrum of blinding light and plasma to erupt out. A never-ending torrent of lightning spilled out of the weaponry as they continued to stay interlocked; both figures refusing to back down as they wrestled the energy weapons roughly against each other. Lucifer groaned as his muscles continued to fall under constant strain of the Sangheili's might and strength, without will or resolve; the Black Spartan IV started to fall down to his knees as he could not withhold the fury of the Harbinger.

"And so it ends" The Black Sangheili softly spoke, his mandibles partially parting as he finally made his end move.  
The elite activated the opposite end of the energy reaper in a similar pattern of energy hard light that curved into a symmetrical layout of the original scythe head. As the Harbinger looked over both ends of his reaper, then down at the black Spartan IV in front of him; and then without pause or hesitation, without resolve or mercy, he slashed the second blade across the chest of his prey.

A tear dropped down from Lucifer's face straight onto the cracked screen of his helmet, the last known act and move he would ever make or move as a living human being. Then with a brutal finality; a torrent of blood exploded out of the middle of his chest and spilled down to his black armour, making him appear in human as he literally was ripped in half by the energy reaper.  
The Harbinger looked down at the fallen foe in something close to sympathy, clicking his mandibles closely together as he sheathed his weaponry and spoke, "The finality of a demon, never seems to be enough."


End file.
